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LONDON (Alliance News) - Marks & Spencer Group PLC on Thursday said Chief Executive Marc Bolland will retire from his role this year as it reported a fall in group sales in the third quarter of its financial year, as a poor performance from its general merchandise division offset growth in the food division.
The FTSE 100-listed retailer said Bolland, who has been at the helm for six years, will step down in April after the close of the group's current financial year. He will be replaced by Steve Rowe, the executive director of the company's General Merchandise business, covering its clothing and homewares.
The news came as M&S said group sales in the 13 weeks to December 26 fell 0.4% year-on-year, remaining flat at a constant currency basis, as food sales rose 3.7% but general merchandise dropped 5.0%. On a like-for-like basis, food grew 0.4% and general merchandise declined 5.8%.
Regionally, total UK sales were down 0.3%, or 2.5% on a like-for-like basis, while international sales decreased 2%, although grew 2.9% at constant currency. On the plus side, online sales increased 20.9%.
M&S said general merchandise performed poorly as it continued to prioritise gross margin and held back from the heavy discounting in the run up to Christmas. The division faced challenging trading conditions and fell short on availability, while unseasonal weather impacted sales across the clothing sector, the retailer added.
M&S said it now expects general merchandise gross margin to be at the top end of the guided range of a 200 to 250 basis points improvement.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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