LONDON (Alliance News) - British retailer Marks & Spencer PLC Monday said it plans to double its presence in India, and is targeting around 80 stores in the market by 2016.
The group opened its first store in India back in 2001, and signed a joint venture with Reliance Retail in April 2008 to form Marks & Spencer Reliance India Pvt Ltd.
It now has a total of 36 stores in India, including a recently-opened 35,000 square feet flagship store in Bandra in Mumbai, where it will now also sell make-up for the first time in India.
In its half-year report, M&S said that international sales in the six months to September 28 were up 8% on a constant currency basis, driven by a strong performance from Asia, particularly India where sales were up 28.1%.
The group said it remains focused on building stores in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, where it plans to open a cluster of supporting stores around its flagship store locations, including its new M&S Bandra store.
It also said that it plans to expand into secondary cities such as Surat and Kanpur, as well as capitalise on growth opportunities in lingerie and beauty in the India market.
"We have the ideal platform to accelerate our growth in the market and see India becoming our largest international market outside of the UK by 2016,? said Chief Executive Officer Marc Bolland in a statement.
M&S shares were trading 0.3% higher Monday morning at 501.50 pence per share.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
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Marks & Spencer (MKS)