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LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - British retailer Marks &
Spencer said it was planning for a slow return to
shopping and had taken steps to shore up its finances for 18
months, including scrapping next year's dividend, to cope with
the impact of the coronavirus crisis
The retailer said on Tuesday that its planning was based on
it enduring subdued trading for the rest of this year in its
clothing and home business, as it warned that its food division
had been impacted by fewer people travelling into city centres.
M&S said that it had significant undrawn credit available
for the next 18 months to deal with worst case scenarios on
trading.
It said its banks had agreed to relax or remove covenant
conditions for tests due later this year and in 2021, and it had
also accessed the UK government's coronavirus corporate finance
scheme.
The retailer said it did not anticipate paying a dividend
for the 2020-21 financial year, saving it 210 million pounds of
cash. It had said in March that it will not pay a final dividend
for its 2019-20 financial year.
Before the pandemic M&S was trying to turnaround its
clothing unit, and it said on Tuesday that its financial
planning included resources to underpin both a recovery and a
faster transformation of the division in 2021.
The firm is due to report full-year results on May 20.
"We...will at that stage provide a further update on the
very significant measures being taken to reduce costs and
protect cash flow during the crisis period," it said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Kate Holton and James
Davey)
