BUZZ-Marks and Spencer: shares hit after star analyst downgrades

** British retailer Marks and Spencer Group falls3.3%, one of the top FTSE 100 losers, after Investecdowngrades to "hold" from "buy" ahead of Q1 trading update onJuly 7

** Investec rated at five stars for recommendation accuracyon M&S, per StarMine

** Broker cites uncertainty over medium-term demand,forecasts 2 years of profit decline (after well documented toughYTD for clothing sector, e.g. Debenhams said June 22industry sales -4% over last 12 weeks, similar period to M&S Q1)

** FY18e PBT cut by 10% to reflect currency c.$1.35 (&weaker demand); FY17 mostly hedged, so recent currency moves areexpected to impact FY18

** Slashes M&S TP to 315p from 460p

** Broker says too early to quantify the future profitimpact of Brexit from a slower demand perspective

** Sell-side split: 11 of 29 brokerages rate the stock "buy"or higher, 8 "hold" and 10 "sell" or lower; median TP is 395p

** Up to Friday's close, stock had fallen 28.4 pct vs a 18.6pct decline in the FTSE 350 General Retailers Index

(Reuters Messaging:pranav.kiran@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)