Our Year in Review
We are deep into the first phase of our transformation programme and continue to make good progress restoring the basics and fixing many of the legacy issues we face. At this stage we are judging ourselves as much by the pace of change as by the trading outcomes, and change will accelerate in the year ahead.
At a glance
M&S is a leading retailer with a strong and unique heritage of brand values, extraordinary colleagues and customers who want to see it succeed again.
Overview
£10.4bn
Group revenue
£84.6m
Group profit before tax
£523.2m
Profit before tax and adjusting items
13.9p
Total dividend
Dividend reset in February 2019.
Chairman & CEO
Archie Norman, Chairman
In September 2017 I took over as Chairman of M&S in the belief that, despite years of decline, a far-reaching turnaround programme driven by a strong leadership team could revive one of the UK’s most special brands. Although we are in the hard yards of fixing the basics and arresting decline, we remain ambitious for the business.
Steve Rowe, Chief Executive
Whilst there are green shoots, we have not been consistent in our delivery in a number of areas of the business. M&S is changing faster than at any time in my career - there has been substantial change across the business to our processes, ranges and operations and this has constrained this year's performance, particularly in Clothing & Home. However, we remain on track with our transformation and are now well on the road to making M&S special again.
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Transformation taking shape
Food: Accelerating our innovation timeline
This year we launched 'Our Best Ever Prawn Sandwich', packed with plump sustainable Atlantic king prawns in a glossy Marie Rose sauce which was developed by our in-house chefs. Launched from concept to store shelf in eight weeks, it quickly became one of our top selling sandwiches and is an example of our reengineered innovation model which is improving the pace and speed at which we bring new products our customers will love to market.
Food: Launching relevant products and ranges
In January we launched our Plant Kitchen range, a brand new collection of 60 plant-based products, aiming to broaden our appeal to more customers looking for vegetarian or vegan options. Flavour is at the heart of Plant Kitchen, which spans on-the-go sandwiches, grain bowls and sushi wraps to comfort food such as Cauliflower Popcorn and Cashew Mac, along with high-street firsts including Vegan Coleslaw and the Fishless Fishcake made with jackfruit – all at trusted value with family meals starting from £3.00.
Clothing & Home: Broadening our appeal
Denim is one of our key categories in which we hold a leading market share on the high street. Our 'Best Ever Fit' campaign launched in February, with three new jean shapes in authentic washes; the Lily, the leg-lengthening slim fit; the Ivy, the skinny fit that works with everything; and The Sienna, the versatile straight fit. Designed to build on our market position and broaden appeal to a wider range of customers, the campaign contributed to a 20% sales uplift in Denim on last year.
Clothing & Home: Driving online sales through digital marketing
Shoppable Instagram, where users can purchase M&S items direct through the social media platform, has been a key part of the marketing campaign for Holly’s Must-Haves range, a selection of our products hand-picked by our brand ambassador Holly Willoughby. Through Instagram, our followers were given first access to Holly’s range, leading to our biggest ever social revenue day on M&S.com
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