M&S bosses talked for years about getting the basics right. Now Steve Rowe may actually have done it
Archie Norman, Marks & Spencer’s chairman, said he’d spotted a few “green shoots” in May, which sounded a brave call at the time. By August, though, the shoots had bloomed into a profits upgrade. Now there’s proper foliage: a forecast of profits this year of £500m, which is about £150m ahead of what had been expected, if one ignores the group’s perennial “adjusting items”.
Chief executive Steve Rowe said he won’t be claiming victory too soon “given the history of M&S”. Fair point: his predecessors were always too keen to pat themselves on the back – it usually meant the next setback was about to strike. But at least five “self-help” factors suggest M&S’s turnaround may be the real deal this time.
