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* Cuts follow thousands of others in sector
* M&S said in May it would accelerate turnaround plan
* Shares down 1%
(Adds detail, shares)
LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - British retailer Marks & Spencer
plans to cut 950 jobs as part of a store management
revamp, dealing a further blow to a sector ravaged by the
COVID-19 crisis.
Already this month, health and beauty chain Boots
and department store group John Lewis have said they
will likely shed over 5,000 jobs between them after the pandemic
accelerated the shift to online shopping.
Britain's retailers were already struggling with high rents,
business taxes, tight margins and preparations for Brexit even
before they were hammered by the coronavirus lockdown.
Marks & Spencer (M&S), which has a UK workforce of 78,000,
said on Monday it had started a consultation with its employee
representative group and set out its intention to first offer
voluntary redundancy to affected workers across central support
functions, central operations and property and store management.
Shares in M&S were down 1% at 1145 GMT, extending 2020
losses to 54%.
The 136-year old group has been seeking to reinvent itself
anew after a decade of failed revivals.
M&S said in May the pandemic would indelibly change its
business and that it would accelerate its latest turnaround
effort, which included cost cuts and store closures. It labelled
the programme "Never the Same Again".
It said the changes announced on Monday would reduce
management layers and free up retail teams to focus more on
customers.
"Through the crisis we have seen how we can work faster and
more flexibly by empowering store teams and it's essential that
we embed that way of working," said Sacha Berendji, M&S's
director of retail, operations and property.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Paul Sandle and Mark
Potter)
