Marks & Spencer Share News (MKS)

(ShareCast News) - Marks & Spencer held its interim dividend flat after first-half profits plunged as new chief executive Steve Rowe closed the defined benefit pension scheme and announced a £550m investment plan to close 113 stores in the UK and overseas to try and return the retailer to profitable growth.After some initial 'kitchen sinking' after his appointment in the spring, the second instalment of Rowe's strategy involves the closing of 60 Clothing & Home stores in UK and shift over to more food-focused stores, plus the withdrawal of owned stores from 10 loss-making overseas markets, at a cost at least £0.5bn over five years.Moreover, a £206m charge, mostly relating payments relating to the closure of its defined benefit pensions scheme and an initial £26m towards the restructuring plans, meant the FTSE 100 group's statutory profits before tax crashed 89% to £25m for the half-year to 1 October.At the underlying level PBT was still down 18.6% to £231.3m as revenue fell 1% to £4.99bn, with lower Clothing & Home sales taking much of the blame.Underlying basic earnings per share of 11.5p were down 18.4% on the equivalent period last year, and while the half-time dividend was held at 6.8p the expense of the restructuring will see no repeat of last year's £75m special dividend in the second half.Rowe said the strategic review he began in May had led him to create a "simpler business" with a focus on recovering the general merchandise business and continuing to grow the food business, with over 200 new Simply Food stores planned by the end of 2018/19."We have made good progress on our plans and customers are already noticing a difference, particularly in Clothing & Home," he said, with second-quarter LFL sales down 2.9% compared to the 8.9% decline in the first."In addition, we have made major steps towards fairer pay and pension arrangements, streamlined our senior management team and our plans to implement a simpler Head Office structure are well underway."The former shelf-stacker's plans to transform the UK estate will cost around £50m per year for the first three years and £100m for the final two, while the proposed refocus of the international business on a franchise model by exiting loss-making owned business will see a non-underlying cost of £150-200m over the coming 12 months in order to eliminate annual losses of £45m.Mixed analyst reactionThe 40% fall in international profits in the half-year undoubtedly conditioned management's thinking, said analysts Clive Black and Darren Shirley at Shore Capital, who were "encouraged" by Rowe's overall plan."Collectively, all of this work should, to our minds, positively bear fruit at the operating level, so potentially returning M&S to annual and sequential EBIT growth."It's fair to say that John Ibbotson at retail consultancy Retail Vision was not encouraged, branding the international retreat "humiliating" and "nothing less than a Dunkirk moment for an iconic British brand", while the shift from clothing to food was an "admission of defeat" for Rowe.He added: "When in July it posted its worst results for a decade, many thought things couldn't get any worse for the venerable retailer. But they just have. And then some."On the reallocation of floor space from food to clothing, Ibbotson said this should boost sales in the short-term "but won't address M&S' inexorable slide towards fashion irrelevance" as UK shoppers' emotional bond with M&S clothing breaks down."No matter how successful its food offering, there's something rotten in the state of M&S - rails of clothes that no longer connect with the buying public. Who needs time travel when you can walk through an M&S and experience the seventies first hand?" concludes Ibbotson with a scathing flourish.Laith Khalaf at broker Hargreaves Lansdown said the retailer's shift away from clothes towards food was focusing on the part of the business which has been most successful in recent times, but would be far from easy."Clothing is a tough game, but food retail is no picnic either, with Aldi and Lidl eating up market share, and Amazon lurking in the wings with its new grocery delivery service. However this is a market where M&S has shown it is able to consistently grow sales, and with premium products on the shelves it is more insulated from the discounters than the likes of Asda and Morrisons," Khalaf said.David Jeary at broker Canaccord Genuity calculated the total cash hit in exceptionals over the next five years, including additional pension contributions, looks to be in excess of £400m, which explains the flat interim dividend and no repeat of the £75m special dividend in the second half."The market wanted to see action and has certainly seen that today, although we hope to hear more detail at the presentation later today. The upside from closing International owned stores is clear. The financial impact on the profitability of the UK is, however, much less clear to us, with no guidance given in the initial release this morning," he said.Jeary also added that there remained a question as to how progressive future dividend streams will look over the next three years, in light of the planned investments in the estate and pension.