AGM FAQs Centre

A number of questions asking about the store rotation programme with specific stores mentioned including Liverpool, Aylesbury, Solihull and Princes Risborough and some concern about M&S leaving city centres for out-of-town locations. Why is M&S moving away from city centre locations, in some cases abandoning the city completely?
 

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 24:02.  

We are not abandoning city centres and have lots of stores on city high streets and in shopping centres. 

Store rotation is about making sure M&S has the right stores, of the right size in the right place and the strategy is working with brighter, fresher, better renewal stores achieving double digit sales uplifts.  

Liverpool is a good example. We relocated from an old store requiring significant investment into a modern city centre renewal, reducing C&H space by 39%, Food space by 18% and yet customer numbers increased by almost 25% in C&H and we saw bigger baskets across Food and Clothing.  

So, the right location is important for customers and for our business whether that’s city centre, high street, shopping centre or retail park.  

At the AGM we announced two brand new city centre M&S stores in Bristol and Bath - a £38m investment in these great cities. This demonstrates that where we can develop the right stores for customers we will stay in city centres. 

Our store rotation programme is all about making sure we have the right stores in the right locations and sometimes that means we have to take difficult decisions to close stores. That’s never a decision we take lightly but as we reshape M&S for profitable growth it is the right thing to do for shareholders. We do still have a Simply Food store in Ruislip

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 28:37.

We know many customers love our cafés, but we will always prioritise the right Clothing & Home and Food space before looking to offer a café.  

M&S is one of the largest high-street coffee retailers in the UK, with over 300 cafés, serving over 32m customers per year. We have individually trained 1800 master baristas who annually make 25m+ cups of coffee.  

In some stores we have chosen not to offer a café option, whereas in others there may be different types of proposition depending on the size, location and profile of the stores.  

Unfortunately the Blandford café closed last year and we have no plans to reopen it.

The main M&S store in Aberdeen is to be closed at the end of 2024 and millions poured in to the smaller (even with new extension) store in Union square. A large number of customers using the main store are elderly people (at least half) they use the bus to get to and from the store. Most will not go to the out of the way store in Union square. I realise the existing main store requires upgrading also Aberdeen council are probably charging exorbitant rates, however even they realise closing this the last main store off Union Street is not good for business. Talk to them about a reduction in rates and keep this store open.  

Our store rotation strategy is all about having the right stores with the right space in the right place and Aberdeen deserves to have one of the largest stores in Scotland and one of the most modern.  

The challenges with modernising the current building at St Nicholas are considerable and given how busy Union Square has become, it makes sense that if we only have one store in Aberdeen that it is located there, where we can provide a modern store fit for the future. 

It was reported earlier this year that First Bus may consider amending routes so that more buses stop at Union Square. 

Our store rotation strategy is all about making sure we have the right stores with the right space to deliver a brilliant shopping experience for our customers. That means opening new stores but also sadly closing others. 

Our extension of the store at Fosse Park will increase the size of the store by 11,500 sq and enable us to offer an expanded product range across food, clothing, homewares, and beauty. Work is currently underway at the site and is expected to be complete in the autumn, with the store remaining open throughout. 

A new flagship M&S development at Marble Arch will unlock capital for us to invest in the store rotation programme.

The planning decision will now fall to a different Secretary of State in a new government. We hope they will consider the overwhelming evidence in favour of the M&S redevelopment, including approval from the independent planning inspector and the verdict of the High Court earlier this year which ruled the previous Secretary of State’s decision unlawful. Approval of the proposed scheme as soon as possible would deliver a much-needed boost for Oxford Street. 

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 31:21.

We are committed to the turnaround strategy for Ocado Retail and positive about the potential of the JV.  

We are in the early stages of driving sales growth, which improved during the year driven by increased choice of M&S products and better value for money.  

4,800 M&S products are now on Ocado which is +20% on last year, while sales of M&S products grew +15% in Q4.

Profitability is clearly not where we want it to be, and Ocado Retail is behind plan. The next 18 months are important as ORL moves on to Ocado Group’s new technology platform which has been delayed and delivers more automation.  

On the contingency payment to Ocado Group we are clear that the payment was linked to performance targets for ORL and our advice remains that these targets have not been met. The performance target is binary meaning it is either payable or not.

Discussions with Ocado Group are continuing and there is a mechanism for reasonable adjustments. We continue to rate the accounting value of the payment as zero. If it came to legal action we are confident in our position. This does not impact the running of the business. 

Gist has delivered savings of £70 million which means the payback on this acquisition is well ahead of our plan.

However, the network is old and a high cost to serve. This year will see the first steps in new capacity investment as we develop the longer-term network plan.

The last several years have seen challenging increases to the costs of essential goods and services and those cost-of-living pressures place the most painful pressure on those on the lowest wages and incomes. We know that M&S has continued to pay the real living wage to all directly employed staff in the last year. However we again urge the Board to commit to guarantee that on-site third party contractors who are vital to the company's operations as well, also enjoy the dignity of the real living wage. So we invite you to listen to shareholders and stakeholders, including customers, and commit to make this step well before next year's AGM. 

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 40:57.

This year we made our biggest ever investment in retail pay - £89 million – to at least £12 per hour, in line with the Real Living Wage, as well as investing in improved maternity and paternity policies as part of our broader reward package. Since March 2022 we have increased our standard hourly rate by more than 26%; significantly ahead of inflation. Our third-party contractors, as separate businesses, set their rates independently but they must comply with our ethical standards. We continue to have constructive, active dialogue with ShareAction and wider stakeholders, most importantly our colleague representative network BIG, with the feedback we are given informing the decisions we make on pay. Although under constant review, accreditation is not something we are considering committing to at this time.

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 49:43.

We’ve returned a modest dividend to shareholders and that’s right for where we are with our transformation. There have been too many boom and bust turnarounds at M&S. Our objective is to reshape to be a growth business, investing for long-term sustainable and profitable growth which will create more sustainable value for shareholders in the future.

We are seeing strong returns on our investments but need to keep investing in future growth. 

We have increased our capital allocation to c£500m (net of disposals) which breaks down as follows: 

• £300m in store estate  
• £100m supply chain  
• £100m Digital & Tech 

All of these investments should deliver returns in the medium and long term. 

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 51:45.

Our objective is to reshape M&S to be a growth business, investing for long-term sustainable and profitable growth which will create more sustainable value for shareholders in the future.

The management team has done a good job, now delivering 12 consecutive quarters of sales growth and growing profits and market share. They have also kept a tight rein on costs and as a result the financial health of the business is as strong as it’s been in decades.

Director’s remuneration is directly linked to performance and, because we pay a large proportion of any bonus in shares which are deferred and subject to lengthy holding periods, it is also aligned with the interests of shareholders.

When the business does well, we all do well.

We have now delivered 12 consecutive quarters of sales growth, grown market share and profits and returned to paying a modest dividend for the first time in 4 years. There is lots more to do and lots of opportunity but we have a clear strategy to reshape M&S for growth. Delivering against this strategy will help grow sustainable returns for shareholders in the future. 

We know that value is front of mind for millions of families across the country and we are committed to continuing to deliver on our trusted value promise – offering the best possible quality at the best possible price.  

We’ve invested significantly in value in recent years. Over half of Remarksable Value products – a range we launched in 2019 made up of over 100 everyday staples - have the Eat Well health seal of approval, meaning they meet criteria developed by M&S nutritionists in partnership with the British Nutrition Foundation.  

To support families in need, last month, we announced a £1m investment to donate over 1.5m freshly prepared meals through FareShare – the UK’s largest charity fighting food insecurity and waste. This is a brand-new initiative to combat food poverty – redistributing food directly from our supply chain. The nutritionally balanced meals use surplus ingredients from within our existing supply chain which might otherwise go to waste.

We also partner with Neighbourly to redistribute surplus food from our stores.

As a coeliac customer, I have been disappointed to notice a reduction in gluten free ready-made sandwiches and wraps in your 'food on the go' range. Is there a reason why you're no longer catering to this food allergy? I was also extremely disappointed when I visited the café, as there were no savoury gluten free options and only a couple of sweet options. 

We treat this dietary requirement very seriously and in April we added a new made without farmhouse cheddar and tomato sandwich to sit alongside our made without cheddar new yorker sandwich, made without chicken and bacon sandwich and made without chicken fajita wrap. We have also recently launched a made without sandwich platter for customers catering events. If you can tell us which store you have noticed a reduction in the range, we will investigate.  

In the Café, we have the GF Cheese & Tomato Toastie, we also have the GF Iced fruit bun, GF New Yorker (cheese sandwich) as well as some biscuits.

We are working on future new products, particularly focused on savoury breakfast GF buns (Bacon roll and Sausage roll). If you have specific ideas on savoury snacks that you would like to see in our range, it would be great to hear your suggestions.

4,800 M&S Food products were available on Ocado.com by year end, a 20% increase on last year, with sales of M&S products growing +15% in Q4.

Availability has improved considerably, but there is further opportunity on the most important lines and at key event periods.

We have a clear ambition for our Food business - to offer our customers delicious, exceptional quality food where, when and how they want it. Our plan is to deliver this through leveraging product quality and innovation and the trusted M&S brand, driving profitable growth across categories and channels and improving operating margins through fixing our backbone. Ocado Retail also plays a valuable role in growing M&S Food.

This financial year, we grew market share to 3.7% (from 3.55%) but we set ourselves the target at our Capital Markets Day in November to grow market share by +1% between FY23 and FY28. Our volume growth in Food was plus 6.8% and that was against the market down to nearly 1%.

Thank you for fruit and veg being available loose, and nearly all food packaging now being recyclable. At last, boxes to take back soft plastics are in store, but only intermittently - please could you make the boxes always available, and obvious to customers? And provide recycling facilities in your stores! 

Thank you for the feedback on our soft plastics recycling units and overall efforts to reduce plastic. We removed 140m pieces of plastic from our packaging last year on our way to a target of removing 1bn pieces by the end of 27/28 (from 2016/17). Not all of our stores have space for soft plastic recycling units but wherever we can offer them we try and locate them conveniently for customers.

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 1:12:04.

We know there is lots to do to improve availability with plans underway to modernise our merchandise and range management technology.  

We are reducing options where it makes sense to do so. This will enable us to increase volume on our best-selling lines and invest in improving availability.

Quality is at the heart of everything we do especially when it comes to sourcing and making our products. We want customers to trust that the products they buy from us are made well and made to last. By concentrating our supply base with fewer but more strategic partners, we’re further able to hone in on the quality of the product from the fabrics we use to how it is made. The work we’re doing to invest in the quality of clothing has meant our lead on quality perception among customers has widened.

Thank you for sharing your feedback. Maddy and the Womenswear team would love to hear more on this, and which styles have disappointed you.  

The design focus across our ranges is about broadening, not shifting appeal – finding that sweet spot and creating pieces that both mum and daughter would want to wear.

We’re informed by trends, but we always try to interpret them in a way that is right for the M&S customer.

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 38:05.

We want to focus on the products our customers want to buy most, offering great value, quality and style.

Looking at growth across our home business we believe the biggest opportunity lies in Core Home where we have a fairly small market share of 4.7% but are seeing strong growth (up 40bps LY). We will expand categories like home textiles, bedding and home fragrance and stop selling larger furniture items. We will still sell some branded furniture online.

This was answered live in our broadcast at 1:01:22.

We always aim to be fair and consistent to all. The M&S discount policy is a discretionary benefit and we’re proud that it is one of the most popular benefits we offer, so we wanted to ensure that we continue offering it for years to come.  

To be able to do this, we had to make some changes and simplify the programme as it had become incredibly complicated and harder to track.

We still think it’s a really competitive and industry leading benefit and we absolutely wanted to continue to recognise our long service colleagues which is why we retained leaver discount for those who have 25 years of continuous service and who leave the business for any reason, not just retirement.

I worked for the company for 30 years and retired in 1998. My question is:- During the 1960s and 70s men were paid more than women for doing similar jobs! I do believe this was going to be addressed but haven’t been notified of any result in this matter. If some recompense is going to be made this will surely affect what pension we should have received. Is this matter going to be resolved before we all pop our clogs

We have checked with the Pension Scheme Trustees and this isn’t an issue they are aware of. If you would like to provide more specific details we would be happy to follow up with them.

Those of us who deal with the M&S Pension Scheme are experiencing a distinct lack of customer care and focus. The M&S Alumni FB page demonstrates that many of us cannot access our accounts and correspondence, due to the shortcomings of the log in system. In my own case, I have been waiting since the end of April for a response and still nothing. A situation made more difficult due to my overseas location. It is ironic that the hackers of the pension scheme have had more luck than pension scheme members themselves. I would be grateful if the business could bring some pressure to bear on the service provider and make life less frustrating for members. Thank you. 

We were made aware in April that some of our members were experiencing issues accessing the online member portal.  

The administrator of the Scheme acted quickly to resolve the technical issues and have since conducted a full investigation into the cause and reported back to the M&S Scheme Trustee, to make sure they’re not repeated.  

The Trustee has been and will continue to monitor the standards of service provided by the administrator.  

For any members who are continuing to have trouble accessing their account, please contact the administrators for further support.

Plan A used to be a major advantage for our business and we talked about the environment and sustainability more than any of our competitors. Now when I go into store, I hardly see it anywhere. It’s become virtually invisible. What can we do to talk more to customers about the work M&S is doing in this area? 

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 54:11.

We know that we have more work to do to tell the Plan A story to our customers and it is a focus for the Board in the year ahead.  

In future you are going to start seeing much more on Plan A and the progress we are making across all our channels - not just in stores. 

For example, in May, we opened our Washington Galleries store which sets the standard for communicating with our customers about Plan A in store. It has really clear messaging throughout, highlighting key initiatives and the progress we’ve made as a business.  

Just last week, we launched our clothing repair service partnership with SOJO to give clothes another life attracting widespread coverage in the media and across our digital channels.

a) The drive by M&S towards a Net Zero CO2 target which can only be achieved via costly energy and environmental costs prompts the obvious question: Is M&S aware that fossil fuel burning by the entire human race produces just 4% of ALL CO2 emissions (IPCC AR5), with the UK contributing just 0.03%? The remaining 96% of global CO2 emissions are from natural sources. And if you were unaware of such scientific facts, will you now abandon your Net Zero policy and concentrate on your core business to help my poorly performing M&S investments recover back to where they were ~20 years ago?

b) By pledging to become Net Zero by 2040, is M&S in such a financially strong position to enter into what is a very costly and completely unnecessary form of virtue signalling? And do you really have enough spare cash in your coffers to indulge in such frivolity while long-suffering shareholders have seen years of pathetic returns?
 

We rely heavily on the climate and natural resources to operate our business, so being able to ensure we have the most resource efficient (as well as cost efficient) way of working is important.  

Net zero isn’t something that we can achieve alone but requires us as a business to work with the wider industry, suppliers, non-governmental organisations and trade associations. The UK government has a net zero ambition by 2050, and the retail sector (through the British Retail Consortium’s roadmap) has a 2040 net zero ambition.  

This is not just an issue for M&S but it’s important we play a part, particularly given climate change is one of our core business risks, so there is also a level of mitigation within our targets.

In 2020 M&S banned alpaca wool from its products due to welfare concerns regarding alpacas farmed and shorn for wool. 

In early June, M&S reversed this ban, and presumably plans to reintroduce alpaca products. It justifies this volte face on the basis of the introduction of the Responsible Alpaca Standard (RAS) in 2021. However, the RAS only requires annual inspections of alpaca farms and there is no oversight on what happens the rest of the time. 

Given that welfare supervision remains wholly inadequate in alpaca wool supply chains, and M&S doesn't inspect the farms directly to rule out animal cruelty, would the Board please consider reintroducing the ban? 
 

We don’t have any alpaca yarn in our products but updated our policy last year after a careful review of the updated industry welfare standards reassured us that should we reintroduce it in the future, our strict animal welfare requirements would be met.  

We take animal welfare seriously right across our business and lead the way in many areas such as chicken where we are the only national retailer to meet the high standards of the Better Chicken Commitment and dairy where all our fresh milk is RSPCA Assured.

I am representing Radnorshire and Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and our partner stakeholders in the River Wye catchment. I have 2 questions for you today –  

a) Can you please detail the actions you are undertaking to ensure clean water supplies, with any particular focus on the River Wye catchment.  

b) We know that you source and have producers within the Wye catchment. Could you please publicly support and detail any actions you could take against points 2 and 4 in the recently published Manifesto for the Wye, which is supported by 15 NGOs within the catchment (Point 2: establish a recovery fund to resource a fair and fast transition to river friendly farming and nature based solutions; and Point 4: ensure supermarket pricing rewards river friendly farmer and that consumers are powered with honest and clear labelling).
 

The issue of water quantity and quality associated with farming is hugely complex. We source a variety of produce from the Wye & Usk area and, as is the case for all of those we work with, farmers and suppliers are required to act responsibly in terms of the production, transportation and application of manure used as fertiliser.

All M&S Select Farms must have manure management plans, including the Red Tractor Poultry Litter Management Module or equivalent if using poultry manure.

We have been helping to fund the Wye & Usk Foundation’s Agri-Food Partnership project and continue to work with, support and engage the suppliers we source from.

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 56:34.

Building a high-performance “sleeves rolled up” culture is central to reshaping M&S for growth and getting closer to customers is at the very heart of that.  

We set out a vision to be the most trusted retailer and strongly believe this is about quality, price, service and protecting the magic of M&S. Our store colleagues are at the forefront of this and we are investing more in helping them provide great service. Being on hand to help customers better than we are today.  

In 2022, we launched our Closer to Customers programme to bring Store Support Centre colleagues closer to the front line. Every colleague is now required to spend seven days every year working in store. But the programme is more than Store Support Colleagues offering a helping hand; it is about ensuring the central gravity of the business is close to our customers in-store; breaking down barriers; giving our store colleagues a strong voice in the business; encouraging better teamwork; and helping to solve problems that get in the way of delivering for customers quicker.

Lots of work done, and lots to do in changing the culture.

We're creating a very different M&S, a culture that is sleeves rolled up, even closer to customers and closer to colleagues, an M&S where if we say it we do it. And we always aim higher and tell it as it is. It's our mantra of being positively dissatisfied.

This year, we made progress on ‘hardwiring’ sustainable change – how and when we execute our strategic priorities – with progress in store rotation and supply chain. But we need to move faster and be ruthlessly challenging on the areas where progress has been slower, building a more effective digital and technology infrastructure, accelerating the move to a truly personalised customer experience, and resetting priorities in International.

I want to know how M&S recognises and rewards the consistently good performance of the smaller stores such as my local Surbiton shop. They have maintained excellent standards over the years including staying open all hours during COVID. I would like to see a recognition system that customers can contribute to
 

It’s always wonderful to hear stories of how our stores and colleagues are supporting local customers and communities. We’ll be sure to say thank you to the team.

Thank you for the suggestion of a recognition scheme that customers can contribute to, we’ll take that away and look into it.

Is this the longest “turnaround” in corporate history? With the entire leadership changed (with the exception of Archie Norman) the share price is still lower than it was 10 years ago… despite most of the traditional high street competition disappearing (BHS, Debenhams, Arcadia etc). When can we expect to see a decent return for long term shareholders? 
 

Our objective is to reshape M&S to be a growth business, investing for long-term sustainable and profitable growth which will create more sustainable value for shareholders in the future.

The management team led by Stuart has done a good job, now delivering 12 consecutive quarters of sales growth and growing profits and market share.

They have also kept a tight rein on costs and as a result the financial health of the business is as strong as it’s been in decades.

Competition is good for us and it’s good for our customers so of course we watch others, but we try to stay focused on what we are doing. Our strategy is to deliver exceptional quality, style and trusted value for customers whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us. We’ve made some great progress with lot’s done but lots to do.

Despite recent good performance there is no room for complacency, and we know the competition is constantly looking to catch up. We must remain positively dissatisfied and never think our transformation is complete.

Congratulations on a good set of results. However as a shareholder, we do very poorly compared to Next. Their shares continue to rise and are almost at £100 and give healthy dividends. Is it possible to recruit a former Next executive to become a non-executive director? 
 

Healthy competition is a good thing, but we try not to focus too much on what others are doing. We have a clear strategy which is focused on delivering exceptional quality, style and trusted value for customers whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us.

We have a very talented Board with a diverse set of experiences and a top management team across the business which is making a difference to our performance.

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 1:08:18.

International is a big opportunity. We haven’t achieved the growth we want but we’re hopeful we will change that in the medium/longer term as we introduce new leadership and work with our experienced international partners.

Living in East Yorkshire there is not one Marks and Spencer clothes store. Why? Not everyone wants to buy online, in fact everyone I know, friends and relatives now buy in other stores such as Next. A very disgruntled customer, I used to spend a lot in Marks but I am now unable to.

We want to ensure we have the right stores with the right space in the right places. Sometimes that means making tough decisions to close unprofitable stores, relocating within an area where we can. And it will mean some places won’t have a clothing store. 

Online is growing with two thirds of new C&H customers coming through the online channel.

Using Click & Collect our East Yorkshire customers can choose to collect their clothing from our Food halls in Hull Anlaby, Beverley and Hull Kingswood as well as choosing home delivery.

This shouldn’t be the case in our Clothing & Home stores, please do share further details on your experience so we can resolve this with the store directly.

Customers can refund online orders at the till point in our Clothing & Home stores for an immediate refund. While this isn’t possible in Simply Food stores, customers can scan and drop online orders in a collection box for a refund.

I am wanting to know why you are not covering up food in your hospital shop at the Royal Free Hospital. The bread rolls and Victoria sponge muffins are left out for everyone to cough and touch. What are your H&S standards? Any Victoria sponge, passion fruit / walnut / lemon drizzle cakes are put under a globe cover – why this serious disparity and resultant health hazard? 

Customers have told us that they like to see our bakery products unpackaged in the fresh market environment of our stores. Please be assured that we take hygiene very seriously and our colleagues adhere to very strict rules and regulations to make sure our products are safe to consume. 

We offer toilets where we can but some store profiles are not designed for them, however please talk to one of our colleagues and they will do what they can to help you.

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 38:50.

Thank you for the feedback. We do play music in some stores some of the time and we try to ensure a selection that is popular with customers and colleagues and play it at an appropriate volume.

We always want to make sure our advertising targets our customers most effectively to maximise reach and provide value for money so we work with independent media buyers who use detailed insight and analytics tools to get the best possible return on investment. 

Our vision is to be the most trusted retailer, doing the right thing for customers, with quality products at the heart of everything we do. And we are unswerving in our commitment to trusted value, making sure we offer customers exceptional quality at the very best price.

Research undertaken over the past year has shown that we lead the market when it comes to customer perceptions of quality.

If this question refers to Sparks rewards, we do try and make these relevant and useful to customers, but we know we have more to do on personalisation and work is underway in our data and digital team to improve this. 

In the last three months I have received poor service from written letters sent to Waterside House. I firmly believe the current fine reputation of M&S is further enhanced by efficient corporate communications. What further action has Stuart Machin taken to ensure that all customer communications are dealt with in an efficient manner? 

Sorry to hear about your experience. We hold ourselves to high standards when it comes to customer service and have targets in place for response time. We apologise that on this occasion these standards haven’t been met and will look into this further.

The key post-Brexit issues that remain a challenge for the sector and our business relate to movement of goods between the UK and EU – including Ireland where we operate stores. A veterinary agreement that agrees food standards between the EU and UK would do away with the need for export controls when moving goods between the UK and EU countries. This would reduce costs for M&S and make sure we could move product between our suppliers and stores more quickly. It would also remove the need to label products in Northern Ireland with ‘Not for EU’ which again removes cost and complexity.  

The current proposals will result in ‘Not for EU’ labels being applied to product across Great Britain. This is confusing for customers and adds costs as well as potentially harming trade with the EU which is no good for British suppliers. We have called on whoever forms the next government to make changes.

This was the 23rd Annual General Meeting of Marks and Spencer Group plc. Although you may have attended previous M&S AGMs, these will have been of our previous listed entity, Marks and Spencer plc.  

Marks and Spencer plc was previously the company listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 2002 M&S underwent a capital reorganisation. Marks and Spencer plc was delisted, and Marks and Group plc listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Virtual AGMs are not legally recognised in the UK.  Apart from including a physical address in your notice of AGM, please could you explain how M&S’s ‘digital first’ / ‘digitally enabled’ AGM is compliant with UK legal requirements and best practice guidelines laid out by regulatory bodies, governance and proxy advisory agencies who advocate for hybrid AGMs?

Our digital meetings are compliant with our Company’s Articles of Association and UK legal requirements (shareholders approved the changes to the Articles with 99.93% of the vote in favour (2017) and with 99.98% (2021)). We believe a well-executed online broadcast provides as many shareholders as possible, no matter where they live, with the opportunity to join the meeting in a way that best suits their need. This year we have provided shareholders with the opportunity to attend the meeting in person and consider the meeting to be hybrid.

I understand that hundreds of shareholders used to attend your AGMs.  How many shareholders attended your 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 AGMs?  Given the historic high attendance numbers and clear interest from shareholders to attend in-person, has the company considered continuing to cultivate this tradition as well as offering the option to attend online? 
 

This was discussed live in our broadcast at 46:59.

Prior to giving shareholders the chance to join online, we had seen a significant fall in engagement with our AGMs. Our physical AGM attendance figures had been declining rapidly in the 10 years before we went digital – in 2009 we had 1,466 shareholders in attendance, 766 in 2014, 593 at our last physical/hybrid meeting in 2019. Engagement has trebled since we first took a digital approach with 1,759 individual shareholders participating in 2023 (whilst market-wide attendance at AGMs has typically been down between 50% and 60%).

1,806 people have engaged with the 2024 AGM so far (with the broadcast now available to watch online), which is a 2.6% increase on last year’s engagement (1,759) and more than 200% up on our last physical AGM in 2019 (593). Of the 1,806 shareholders who engaged there were 40 shareholders who attended in person, with a handful of guests in attendance.

You have a ‘leading radio and television broadcaster, Anita Anand, acting as shareholder advocate to ensure shareholder views and questions are put to the Board.  Is Ms Anand an M&S shareholder and was the role of shareholder advocate advertised so that other shareholders could apply for this?  What is the criteria for being a shareholder advocate? 

The shareholder advocate role represents shareholder views by posing a mixture of pre-submitted and live questions to the Board. To ensure our Board is appropriately held to account and not ‘hiding behind’ the digital AGM format, we wanted to ensure we asked a credible shareholder advocate to join us in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and introduce some independence to the process. We think it is best for the role to be held by an independent representative, who has no connection to the Company or its shareholders. This pushes the Board to provide robust, transparent answers to shareholder questions. This innovation has been praised by ShareAction, amongst other stakeholders.

‘Digital first’ AGM costs:  Is Ms Anand receiving payment for her role as shareholder advocate?  If so, what is the cost for this, and how is this cost justified given that customarily the Chair of the Board is also the Chair of the meeting and has the responsibility of presiding over the session and ensuring that shareholders’ views are put to the board?  Also, what is the cost for setting up and running your ‘digitally enabled’ AGM, including studio and production costs?

The digital first approach has saved the business on average c.£200k compared to 2019 costs. The shareholder advocate is paid an appropriate fee for the time commitment. Using a shareholder advocate rather than the Chairman to host the Q&A introduces some independence to the process, to ensure the Board is clearly held accountable and is not ‘hiding behind’ the digital AGM format. 

In reviewing your 2023 and 2024 Annual report, I remark that as of 1 April 2023 M&S had 131,726 registered holders, and that as of 30 March 2024 this had gone down to 122,264.  Please could you explain what happened to the 9,462 holders that came off your register between 2023 and 2024, and are they private individuals or nominees / institutions?  Also, given M&S' advocacy for shareholder democracy, including last year's Share Your Voice campaign led by Chair, Archie Norman, how would you expect all your effort to be reflected on your share register? 
 

Our share register is constantly changing with holders buying and selling every day. Any reduction in the total number of shareholders indicates an increase in the number of shares held by each holder.  

In 2023, we noted in our Share Your Voice campaign that nominees make up 40% of the total shareholder market and investment platforms are experiencing annual double digital growth. At the same time, certified shareholder numbers are declining. We would therefore expect a reduction in private investors holding shares directly and an increase in the number of shares held by nominees.

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 1:06:11.

We signed a new 7-year deal with HBSC earlier this year which is focused on M&S’ credit offering, payment solutions and bringing together digital payments and loyalty.

Over the past year we have also launched the digital payment solution, Sparks Pay, for use across all M&S stores, M&S.com and app.

We’re excited about the opportunities this new deal will unlock for customers.

This question was answered in detail during the live broadcast at 36:09.

We are aiming for M&S to have the biggest and most engaging AGM in the country. A meeting which is accessible to all shareholders, no matter where they live, or where they hold their M&S shares. Our fourth digital AGM continued to attract three times as many shareholders as our last physical meeting as we welcomed Shareholders who attended in person into the room and took our first questions from shareholders who, as part of our Share Your Voice campaign, reached us through the interactive investor platform. 

This question was answered live in our broadcast at 38:34.

Our end goal is to restore M&S to sustainable, profitable growth and every decision and action we make is geared towards us achieving that. This includes rewarding our people for a strong performance. 

With the business generating an improved operating performance and having a strengthened balance sheet with credit metrics consistent with investment grade, the Board plans to restore a modest annual dividend to shareholders starting with an interim dividend with the results in November.

Our priority has been to invest in our transformation & trusted value for customers. For this reason we stopped running the voucher scheme for shareholders in 2020 but we know a number of shareholders are also Sparks customers and will regularly receive treats and rewards simply by shopping with Sparks. It's great for you and great for the business.

As you’ll have seen in May improved performance, strengthened balance sheet means Board plans to restore a modest dividend alongside our Half-Year results in November.

The table on p103 illustrates how each of the strategic priorities are incorporated into the remuneration framework. The details of the Total Shareholder Return measure are shown on page 121 and the vesting outcome detailed in Figure 17.

The PSP is structured to take into consideration a range of measures (EPS, ROCE, TSR and strategic measures) to ensure executives are focused on delivering earnings and returns to shareholders whilst also investing money wisely to support the transformation and return to sustainable profit growth. The measures have been selected to balance one another and to ensure executives don’t overly focus on one area to the detriment of another.

20% of the PSP awards are based on total returns to shareholders and the vesting outcome is relative to the other retailers in the peer group. None of this portion of the 2020 PSP awards vested, reflecting the overall shareholder experience over the performance period.

Executives are expected to build significant shareholdings from appointment and so they too are aligned with shareholder interests and the desire to drive returns. The progress made in strengthening the balance sheet, the investments in technology, the supply chain and modernising the store estate are all part of the groundwork to do this, meaning M&S is now in a position to restore dividends and so shareholders will see the returns coming through.

The real Living Wage, as established by the Living Wage Foundation is the minimum hourly rate necessary to ensure that workers earn a wage that truly meets the cost of living. It is currently £11.95 per hour in London and £10.90 throughout the rest of the UK. I was pleased to see that, this year, M&S announced an increase to the base pay of ‘Customer Assistants’ to £12.05 per hour in London and £10.90 in the rest of the UK. However, the company currently still falls short of guaranteeing payment of the real Living Wage to third-party contracted workers. I ask the board whether M&S will commit to investigating and reporting the pay rates for on-site third-party contracted staff and whether the business will commit to a timescale for implementing the real Living Wage as a minimum for these staff members?

In February, we announced an almost £60m investment in colleague pay with hourly rates rising to £10.90 for colleagues in stores outside of London, £12.05 for stores in London – as you say, in line with and above the Real Living Wage.

This followed a £46.5m investment in store colleague pay during the 22/23 financial year, representing a 20% increase in pay over the last two years.

We offer a competitive pay package for colleagues alongside industry leading financial and wellbeing benefits including a 20% M&S discount, generous pension commitment and colleague share save scheme.

Our suppliers and contractor’s rates are set independently and we work closely with them as part of our agreed global sourcing principles. Any supplier that works with us must always pay a fair wage and work towards the living wage and we keep this under constant review.

We are committed to transforming the way we make, move and sell our products as we work towards achieving our Plan A targets.

Across 2022/23, we removed 75million units of plastic from across our Food business.

While we have no new announcement on paper bottles today, we have passed your feedback to our ESG team.

While we try and stock a wide range of sock sizes from 4-141/2, some less in-demand sizes are not always available.

Thanks for your feedback which we have passed on to the menswear team.

This question was answered during the live broadcast at 43:37.

Sparks relaunched in 2020 as digital first scheme and has nearly doubled the number of sparks customers to 16 million in three years through rewards, personalised offers, special treats, and thankyous and by ensuring we deliver the best of M&S for each customer.

The trials that are currently underway across South Wales, the West Midlands and North East which gives every Sparks customer who shops with us at stores in these regions access to a lower price on some customer favourites.

We are always innovating and trialling different ways to reward members and this is just one of many new initiatives or trials including Sparks Day Out, 12 Days of Sparks.

This question was answered in the live broadcast at 1:15:14.

We have set ourselves a Plan A target to reach 100% segregated RSPO certified palm oil in our own label products by 2025/26.

Our 2023 Sustainability Report outlined we are currently at 98% across our own label food products, up from 90% last year.

We have worked closely with our suppliers to reformulate and redevelop products and have detailed plans to achieve the final 2% by the end of next year.

My question is around the M&S Eat Well brand. I love M&S and I enjoy purchasing healthy nutritious food from my local M&S store and from Ocado online. I am also very aware of the increasing awareness of the harmful effects of Ultra Processed Food. I have looked at the information in the Social section in the Annual report about the 'Eat Well' brand which I applaud, along with the quality of the fresh produces. However, there are UPFs that carry the Eat Well brand. Is this is on your radar? Do you have any plans for leading the way in helping customers understand the difference between UPFs and non UPFs?

Our focus remains ensuring healthy choices are accessible and affordable across our Foodhalls and helping our customers to make informed choices.

Our Eat Well range is based on strict nutritional criteria, developed in partnership with the British Nutrition Foundation.

Our policy is to limit the use of artificial additives in food and drinks wherever possible and always prioritise the use of natural alternatives.

We are continually improving the nutritional profile of our products and removing any unnecessary ingredients through our active reformulation programme.

It’s not for us to comment on rumour and speculation, our focus is on growing our partnership with Ocado where we see plenty of opportunity for further growth.

We are committed to ensuring we have the right number of colleagues across our stores, so we can guarantee the best customer service for our customers.

In February this year, we received five stars for customer service in Which?’s annual supermarket survey however it is always a balance to manage staffing

I was disappointed by the opening videos to the meeting, as they gave unremitting good news and upbeat assessments of how the business is performing. Who would know from those videos that Underlying profit before adjusting items was down and free cash flow was down vs the previous year? Is it appropriate for a business meeting to avoid the most basic facts of business performance?

Thanks for your feedback, the introduction of the meeting covered our most recent market update with updates on performance from across the business from Archie, Stuart and Katie. This was followed by a wide range of shareholders’ questions including on dividend restoration and capital allocation to food and Clothing & Home strategy.

We have passed your feedback on to the AGM team for next year

Since the launch of our Straight to Stuart CEO suggestion scheme, we’ve had a strong response from colleagues, with almost 10,000 ideas submitted.

More than 220 ideas have been given a ‘Yes’ including the introduction of bowel cancer symptoms to toilet roll packaging and toilet cubicle doors and identifier symbols on name badges to help colleagues feel more comfortable.

We’ve also broadcast four Straight to Stuart Live events for the business where colleagues can get an instant reaction from Stuart and the leadership team.

From a member of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust. My question today relates to the fact that the success story of cleaning up our rivers in the UK has been totally put into reverse and now all of them are suffering from pollution, in some cases severely. Two companies, Avara and Noble Foods, source over 100 million chickens per year from intensive poultry units in the Wye catchment area. Scientists tell us that the manure from these millions of birds is being spread on farmland in quantities too much for the land to absorb. This is leaching into and polluting the Wye and its tributaries. I have spent much time online trying to find out who supplies M&S with chickens and eggs. Is it Avara and Noble or another source? If another source are their farms polluting water courses? It should be easy to find the answer to these questions. Will you promise to make your supply chain more transparent?

We do not take any shell eggs from Noble foods or Avara in the Wye Valley.  We do take some ingredient eggs from Noble Foods and would of course be happy to meet the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust.

All of our suppliers must uphold environmental standards in line with our Global Sourcing Principles, which state no contaminated or toxic wastewater should be discharged into the environment. In our most recent Sustainability Report, we included information about our Food supply chain and we also voluntarily host an interactive supplier map on our website.

We are always open to inspiration which will support our transformation but we are pleased with the progress made so far at M&S. In C&H our style perception now third – up from fifth - & we have retained our leading positions in quality, value and sustainability.

In Food we outperformed the market and customer perception for quality and value the highest in six years.

However we are not sitting still as we know there is a lot to do to reshape M&S and deliver long term sustainable returns for shareholders.

I am concerned that M&S general merchandise is losing its way and the cache that it previously held. I feel this is symptomatic of the Company decline and hence poor performance most notable by its exit from the FTSE 100. What steps are being taken to return M&S to its former glory?

It has been one year since new leadership set the strategy to reshape M&S for growth and the business has delivered sustained trading momentum and positive growth.

For example in C&H style perception has increased to third up from fifth, and we retained our leading positions in quality, value and sustainability. In Food our customer perception in quality and value is at its highest point in six years.

At its heart, our plan is about protecting the magic of M&S - Our exceptional product, trusted brand and strong values – while modernising the rest of the business, so we are a simpler, faster and more digitally enabled M&S.

Progress has been made but we know there remains lots to do to reshape M&S and make it a bigger, better and growing business.

This question was answered during our live broadcast at 40:42.

At M&S we say we are always positively dissatisfied, and look to create a sense of healthy tension and drive for change across the business.

One year in to our strategy for reshaping M&S for growth and we have made good progress but we know we need to keep the pace up and maintain the relentless focus on delivering long term sustainable growth for shareholders

Our aim is to create a culture of high performance and ensure that every one of our 65,000 colleagues can feel and perform at their best.

Talent ID and development is right at the top of our people agenda and to support this and the creation of a high performance culture last year we launched our Future Leaders programme with Build & Evolve and 200 colleagues now completed build (70% of which are women) and 50 completed evolve.

We are also introducing a Fast-track learning programme in the year ahead. Investment and programmes like these ensures that the highest potential candidates from the business across all levels can develop and progress.

This question was answered during our live broadcast at 46:10.

Ocado Retail has grown revenue by 40% since 2019 and has a large, addressable market and substantial invested capacity to grow sales and to recover profitability in the medium term. 

Are there any plans to expand M&S brand widely? Not large scale but small; with the knowledge and help of the employees who are not British, we can find the strategy to progress into the market. The government has made another advanced trading relationship with Japan, why don't we start from there?

M&S’ objective is to grow international retail sales by leveraging its brand through capital light partnerships and a multi-platform online business with global reach. We have 27 franchise partners globally and through our omni-channel advantage, a growing online global presence in over 100 international markets, including Japan.

We know that our supply base make up 94% of our emissions and are a critical part of us achieving our net zero goal, and we are focused on supporting them to make the transition to local carbon operations and farming.

We work with over 9k select farmers across the UK and our latest Farm to Foodhall adverts showcase the lengths they go to to make and source M&S products through nature-friendly methods  while retaining the quality and taste we’re famous for.

Our target is to be a net zero business by 2040 and in our most recent update we outlined that we are making progress against our targets but like other businesses we have a long way to go particularly in tackling our scope 3 emissions.

Specifically on power usage we’ve delivered a 3% reduction in our Scope 1 & 2 emissions from fuel and electricity use in our stores and logistics network. But 94% our emissions coming indirect from suppliers (scope 3) so a long way to go.

In recycling since 2008 over 36 million items of Clothing recycled through Shwopping c£23m for Oxfam. 93% of own brand food plastic packaging is widely recyclable. And in food waste we’ve reduced this by 46% meaning we’re on track to halve all in-store waste by 2030 – a key issue with our customers.

We’re proud to have been the first retailer to move to 100% free range shell eggs 20 years ago. We only sell British, free range eggs sourced from trusted supplier partners. All of our suppliers are assessed annually, in line with our M&S Select Farm Standards.

We are continuing our work to reduce our overall demand for energy and are exploring  further self-generation opportunities to add to the existing solar arrays we have, both on stores and at our Castle Donington Distribution Centre.

In collaboration with other retailers, we have called on the government to accelerate the greening of the grid as we know this will play a crucial role in meeting our net zero targets.

This question was answered during the live broadcast at 56:45.

Our customers expect us to do the right thing and make the most sustainable choices on their behalf. We encourage our customers to use fewer bags and reuse the bags that they already own.

But for those times when you forget your reusable bag, we sell 100% recycled plastic Bags for Life - made from plastic waste collected in our own stores. At M&S you can return your Bag for Life for replacement or recycling when they wear out.

We were the first retailer to charge for single-use plastic bags in 2008 and, since then, our carrier bag usage has declined by 90%. We no longer offer single-use shopping bags, and have also removed plastic single-use small produce bags from our Foodhalls.

We are led by science and aim to do the right thing for the environment. For carrier bags, scientific opinion overwhelmingly considers that the correct choice is to use a closed-loop bag and encourage maximum reuse.

Human rights campaign Labour Behind the Label report a crisis point for Pakistan's garment workers, with 40% inflation of daily commodities making wages are unliveable and informality of employment undermining workers’ rights. Workers from M&S supplier International Textile in Sindh province, Pakistan, have reported that piece rates are now being used to calculate wages in an effort to save costs and this is undermining minimum wage payment and progression. They also report that workers are not being registered for social security or formally contracted, due to the illegal use of labour agents who recruit workers into factories. These reported concerns are not uncommon in Pakistani suppliers. Q1: What is M&S doing to monitor and mitigate the increasing risk of worker exploitation around wages in the difficult economic situation for the garment industry in Pakistan? Q2. How will M&S ensure workers’ access to social security and formal contracts is guaranteed per the law?

This question was answered in the live broadcast at 58:55.

Ethical Trading is core to the way we do business and all our suppliers must adhere to our Global Sourcing Principles to ensure that our suppliers’ employees are provided with safe and fair working conditions. 

The principles specifically state “All workers are entitled to fair and equal compensation, which at least meets the legal minimum wage, industry standards, or negotiated wages and includes all legally mandated benefits (medical insurance, social insurance, pension)” and that “All workers, regardless of employment on a permanent, temporary or casual basis, shall be provided with written employment contracts. Temporary labour arrangements must not be used to avoid obligations to workers under labour or social security laws and regulations arising from the regular employment relationship.”

In response to your second question, our first tier production sites are required to have an annual ethical audit, by a third party independent audit company, which is based on the ETI Base Code and International Country Laws. We have a team of social compliance managers in each of our sourcing offices, whose roles are to follow up any findings from these audits and also implement capacity building and targeted social programmes for workers in those factories on a needs and risk basis. These programmes include health awareness, financial literacy, rights and responsibilities and worker voice in order to gain more feedback directly from workers on their working conditions.

We commissioned a research project by external consultancy to understand living wages in our sourcing countries, including Pakistan.

We continue to monitor any changes in legal minimum wages in Pakistan and verify compliance in our supply base through our factory monitoring programme.

In January 2023, M&S signed the Pakistan Accord on Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, as part of our ongoing commitment to working conditions in our supply base.

This question was answered in our live broadcast at 1:00:58.

We have a simple commitment to give our customers a great everyday price without compromising on the quality and standards they expect.

Our customers continue to rank M&S above the competition when it comes to quality and positive perceptions grew a further percentage point this year.

When we disbanded ‘Classics’ five years ago, the majority of the range moved into the Collection departments.

On Trousers, we have continued with our Ponte Trouser and the Crosshatch Straights – versions of these trousers would have sat within Classics.

As with all of our core lines, we constantly review how they are selling, and continue to make changes to ensure that the range is relevant to our customer.

All our trousers come in short length and go to all our stores.

Extra short is currently online only across 20 of our lines. From AW23, we will also be trialling XS in selected stores.

Our focus is on improving market share in existing categories, such as Kidswear.

Having established a stronger value position, the aim is to build increased awareness and appeal of the range.

This was answered in the live broadcast at 1:04:18.

The merchandising teams continually monitor and review sizing, ensuring that lines are brought in the ratio they will sell best in.

Customers will see a continued improvement in core sizes through AW23.

I have felt for some years that M & S is concentrating on younger people and while I understand that this has to be - by default - within the retail ladies clothing areas, it has become increasingly difficult to find well cut clothing for older women. Can you consider providing a ‘capsule’ wardrobe for older ladies?

The customer the womenswear team are designing for is centred around styles that fits with their body and life – whatever their age or life stage. Offering value, versatility, comfort style and quality will always be core to our design principles.

We recently launched M&S Icons which is a curated edit of wardrobe stables, selected for its versatility and timeless styles.

In our Autograph collection, we offer soft knits, statement dresses and standout prints and Per Una comprises classic pieces and modern but timeless looks.

To deter and prevent theft across our stores, we have introduced new measures such as meat monitors in MFPDD and gap scanning procedures in ambient.

We have no current plans to expand into schools and universities but we are always looking for opportunities to provide more people with access to M&S Food and it is something we are happy to consider in the future.

The magazines on shelves should be changed every week, we will investigate with our stores team.

This question was answered in our live broadcast at 55:13.

All of our dedicated M&S store delivery fleet has M&S branding to improve visibility of our brand. We retain some white fleet to enable us to provide maximum flexibility for our non M&S customers and to enable us to provide cost effective solutions for our peak operations where we will bring in additional fleet to support our requirements.

Why are all the additives of so-called spices/garlic etc being layered onto your meats etc. which in my view contaminate the meat, the only meat you have not done this to is beef and lamb and chops. please refrain from this practice, or add a sachet with said additives Let the customer decide!

Thanks for your feedback, it has been passed on to our product development team.

I am concerned that M&S 'Made Without' range is being decreased, apparently to make more space for Vegan products. This is a wrong approach. Food allergies are a form of disability, veganism is only a lifestyle choice. Therefore if you need more shelf space for vegan products, it should come from the 'regular' shelves, not from Made Without. Having achieved regular stocking of our preferred items at my local Havant branch, but only by attending an AGM in person and speaking to senior management, they are now disappearing again. Local management say stocks are supplied from Head Office, without regard to what they need. You should take more notice of local requirements.

This question was answered in our live broadcast at 50:44.

In total we have 124 products in our Made Without range and have actually increased the number of products in our Havant store from 82 to 100 over the past year. Our supply chain team will check there are no availability issues in that particular store.

In light of the Government’s plan to restrict multi-buy price promotion restrictions on food and drink high in fat, salt and sugar, from October 2025 Tesco has announced that it will maintain its own voluntary commitment to avoid volume-led promotions for less healthy food and drink, and focus on ways to offer their customers value. Sainsbury's has also phased out use of multi-buy promotions of less healthy food and drink. Does Marks & Spencer have similar plans to commit to the restrictions, despite the Government’s pause on the regulations, for the good of their customers’ health and finances?

We do not have any multibuy deals on HFSS restricted products. Our focus is on ensuring healthy options are accessible and affordable and latest Family Matters Index shows 30% of families are looking to eat more healthily in the coming months. As part of our recent investment in value, we have dropped or locked the price of over 50 Eat Well products. Eat Well are products meeting evidence-based nutritional criteria, developed by M&S nutritionists in consultation with the British Nutrition Foundation.

Modernising our supply chain is a key pillar of our plan to reshape M&S for long term growth. Our aim is to create a lower cost network which prioritises the timely flow of products over storage and stock holding.

In C&H we are planning a five-year programme of investment which includes creating a logistics network to support the omni-channel offering, largely using existing assets, and investing in automation and new capacity to improve availability and speed up delivery and returns.

In Food we completed gist acquisition taking control of our logistics network for the first time which means now have ownership of decisions which help reduce costs to serve through a more efficient supply chain operating model including property.

This question was answered live in the broadcast at 01:19:20.

We have no plans to open new food stores in Europe. Our focus is on continuing to grow International retail sales through capital light partnerships and a multi-platform online business with global reach.

This question was answered in the live broadcast at 1:11:30.

Our store rotation and renewal programme aims to build a more productive estate of brand defining stores in growth locations.

Over the last year we reduced the full line estate by three stores and grew our owned Simply Food stores by five.

New stores – such as our Chesterfield relocation - are performing really well. In many cases we are on track to double sales and pay back on the capital invested is averaging 3-4 years, including closure costs.

Our priority is to invest in bigger, better stores while making sure we have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space. This year the plan is to open 8 full line stores, and 10 Food stores while closing around 20, of which 10 will be relocated.

We’ve been playing music in many of our stores for a number of years, and our playlists feature a selection of songs covering multiple genres. We have generally received very positive feedback from colleagues and customers, but we will of course take your comments on board when reviewing our future approach.

The new system of ordering in M&S cafés via touch screen boards (or via mobile phone) is very impersonal and seems to be putting people off. I understand that one of the reasons the new system was adopted was to deal with the issue of long waits in queues. However, would M&S consider adding an interaction with a member of staff as an alternative means of ordering, perhaps at specific times of the day?

This question was answered in the live broadcast at 1:08:13.

We have introduced digital ordering to help reduce queueing into our cafes and improve service.

Previously we were struggling to show off our full Menu on our traditional cardboard menu, however the new screens allow us to show bigger bolder pictures of our range which customers have loved.

Our digital cafés are the top cafés in the business so we know they are, on the whole, being well received.  Customers can now have everything delivered to their table rather than have to wait in a queue to order, pay, and collect drinks. However we recognise that there is an opportunity to have another means of ordering and paying with a colleague, such as for customers with visual or audible impairments, or customer who want to use alternative payment methods such as cash. We are working with IT currently on how we can enable this in our digital cafes while still maintaining the benefits the ordering screens give, and we hope to have a solution deployed later this year.

In the meantime we will ensure that the digital entry screens are hosted by one of our Café team full time during the opening period and at peak times to help our customers through the experience.

Noting that M&S are allowing men with gender identities to use the same changing rooms as women, this means that all changing are effectively mixed sex. What safeguarding measures is M&S putting in place to protect women from covert filming and voyeurism, and what protocols are in place for the regular checking for hidden cameras? (I ask this as a camera was placed in the toilets at my former place of work)

To ensure every customer feels comfortable trying on clothes in our stores, our fitting rooms are located within our womenswear and menswear departments for customers of that gender and are made up of individual lockable cubicles to ensure customer privacy, with a colleague on hand.

The Company did not make any political donations or incur any political expenditure during the year ended 1 April 2023. M&S has a policy of not making donations to political organisations or independent election candidates or incurring political expenditure anywhere in the world as defined in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

Your website states that 'Doing the right thing in our communities is part of M&S's heritage'. Given this commitment can you explain why as part of Ocado Retail you have sought to impose a 24-7 distribution centre next to a primary school and a residential community in Tufnell Park despite strong opposition from the school, local community and Islington Council and continue to pursue multiple applications, legal actions and planning appeals to impose it? Given Section 172 of the 2006 Companies Act requires you to have regard for the 'impact of the company's operations in the community and the environment' why have Ocado and M&S not published a full disclosure of the social and environmental impacts of this proposed site nor sought the transparency of a full public planning application?

Our partners at Ocado are committed to having a positive impact on the local community. This would be the greenest and quietest grocery facility in the UK, and they would commit to using a 100% electric van fleet – replacing the vans that currently deliver in the area – and install a green ‘living wall’ along the boundary (with the school). It would also create around 300 new jobs for the local economy.

Doing the right thing in our communities is part of M&S's heritage and as part of how we operate we always look to drive action that makes a meaningful difference in the communities that we serve.

This year M&S donated over £5.5m including over £1m to 1,000 local causes through the “Gifts that Give” Christmas campaign, in partnership with Neighbourly. The causes that were  supported covered the length and breadth of the UK and included a youth brass band, a community animal rescue centre, and the Kaotic Angels, a community group of serving and former military personnel, police, firefighters, ambulance workers and other front-line emergency responders.

We also donated over £2m through customers, colleagues and partners including supporting  Macmillan Cancer Support, through our headline sponsorship of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning and year-round activations such as Sparks donations, raising more than £1.6m.

We’re proud to support the LGBTQ+ community and we want M&S to be a place where all colleagues and customers feel they belong.

For the third year running, throughout June we will be doubling all Sparks donations to akt – a charity who supports LGBTQ+ young people who are facing or experiencing homelessness or living in a hostile or abusive environment - because no young person should have to choose between a safe home and being who they are.

We have rewarded the hard work of all our colleagues by investing significantly in colleague pay – over £100m in the last 2 years

In February, we announced our biggest ever investment in frontline colleague pay - £57m.

Want to ensure our reward offer reflects what matters most to colleagues and feedback from store teams is that base pay is most important.

Over last two years, base pay has increased over 20% - well above inflation.

Investing in our people helps ensure we remain competitive as an employer brand and can retain and attract talent to continue our progress of transforming M&S.

Thanks for your feedback and for recognising the hard work of our colleagues during the pandemic and beyond. We recognised their hard work by making a 15% payment to frontline colleagues during Covid and have recently made our biggest ever pay investment of £57million to take hourly store colleague pay in London to £12.05 per hour. We have also recently taken steps to secure the long term future of the Surbiton store and have plans in place to modernise it over the next year.

Every M&S colleague with significant service to the business is eligible to retain their colleague discount which reflects their long service and contribution to the business.

While existing M&S Chargecard customers can continue to use their card, it hasn’t been offered to new customers since 2011. The M&S Credit Card was introduced in 2003, becoming the main M&S Credit Card offering, it is available with chip and pin, digital wallet, and mobile banking functionality. Existing Chargecard customers can get in touch with us to enquire about taking out an M&S Credit Card if they would benefit from the additional digital functionality.

This feature is expected to be available as part of a future update to our Internet Banking Service.

In the Annual Report, reference is made to shareholders votes against last year, suggesting this was to do with Steve Rowe's departure. Rather it was to do with bonuses being paid when results did not warrant a payment. A question was asked last year on the link to shareholder value in last years payments but no response has been received. Can we have that detail please?

Following the voting outcome for the 2021/22 Remuneration Report, we actively consulted with shareholders to understand the concerns that influenced their voting decisions. As a result of the feedback received, we are confident that the majority of those who voted against the Report did so because of the specific circumstances relating to the outgoing CEO (Steve Rowe).

Any discussion by the Remuneration Committee involving executive director incentive awards considers the appropriateness of the award in the context of the shareholder experience, the general health of the business, as well as pay outcomes experienced by colleagues across the business. Based on the strong financial performance during 2021/22 with PBT of £522.9m, a bonus award was triggered under the Annual Bonus Scheme, which was the first payment to colleagues and executives since 2017.

Our end goal continues to be to transform and return M&S to sustainable, profitable growth and every decision and action we make is geared towards us achieving that. In 2022 we continued to prioritise reinvesting back into the business and, instead of paying a dividend, the decision was made to focus on upgrading technology systems, supply chains and addressing legacy store estate as three key areas – as well as maintaining investment grade metrics. Due to improved performance and a strengthened balance sheet, the Board has announced its plans to restore a modest dividend later this year.

The proposed Annual Bonus Scheme and Performance Related Pay for next year are far too generous with no increase in share price still generating substantial payments, despite the current heavily devalued share price. A link needs to be built in to ensure shareholder return in terms of price and dividend yield are factored in. You use a panel of companies for comparison on directors pay and a similar panel should be used to ensure acceptable levels of shareholder returns. Please review.

The design of the discretionary bonus and PSP received strong shareholder support of 97.14% when our Remuneration Policy was approved in July 2020. Opportunity levels are aligned to market levels and our variable pay approach enables the Remuneration Committee to make awards which are competitive and reflect performance. While the Remuneration Policy allows a bonus award of up to 200% of salary, the average award over the last five years has been c. 70% of salary. Similarly, the average PSP vesting over the same period has been c. 19% of the amount granted.

The PSP is structured to take into consideration a range of measures (EPS, ROCE, TSR and strategic measures) to ensure executives are focused on delivering earnings and returns to shareholders whilst also investing money wisely to support the transformation and return to sustainable profit growth. The measures have been selected to balance one another and to ensure executives don’t overly focus on one area to the detriment of another. 20% of the PSP awards are based on total returns to shareholders and the vesting outcome is relative to the other retailers in the peer group. None of this portion of the 2020 PSP awards vested, reflecting the overall shareholder experience. The progress made in strengthening the balance sheet, the investments in technology, the supply chain and modernising the store estate are all part of the groundwork meaning M&S is now in a position, to restore dividends and so shareholders will see returns coming through.

What further actions are the Board intending to do to protect The M&S Pension Scheme members and their data?

The M&S Pension Scheme was one of many Capita clients impacted by a major cyber security breach. Capita took immediate steps to secure its systems and prevent any further unauthorised access to personal data. 

Capita cannot be certain that this data has been accessed. It has no evidence that any information potentially accessed has been misused or that it is available online illegally. It has and will continue to monitor the web closely. 

The Pension Trustee takes the responsibility of protecting members’ personal data very seriously and has sought information about what Capita has done to improve the security of personal data and avoid a future incident. The Trustee will receive a detailed report from Capita of the investigation it has completed and, with independent expert advice, the Trustee will consider whether any further steps need to be taken.

The Trustee has reassured members that their pension remains secure.

A member Q&A has been published within the update it has provided on the Scheme website at www.mandspensionscheme.com/news  

The growth of home delivery items and percentage of returns is high across the retail sector. The £60 order value for free delivery to avoid the delivery charge encourages customers to order numbers of items with intention of returning items. This is costly in delivery and collection of unwanted items and the environmental impact.

I would suggest that free delivery be applied to a much higher value order and in the event of returns reducing the order value below this threshold the charge be retrospectively applied.

Last year Click & Collect sales were up c.20%. and more than 60% of our customers now opt for Click and Collect – that’s over 15 million orders annually. Most of our online customers return any unwanted items to a M&S store (80%) and we have rolled out Digital Check-in and Self-Service Return points to more than 130 stores to make the returns process quick & easy.

The genesis of any turnaround starts with the recognition of the unvarnished truth, the ability of the management to set corporate vanity to one side and communicate the urgency of change and the true state of the business internally and externally. This is something that we are continually addressing and our progress with the transformation and the lessons we are learning are reported on in our Annual Report and Accounts.

We have been clear that the focus of our transformation is to return M&S to sustainable, profitable growth and in doing so we will deliver value for our shareholders. However, a number of macro factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic have influenced our share price and profoundly impacted the wider retail sector in recent months.

In the new landscape – where the way we work and how customers shop may never be the same again – we are learning from the crisis to ensure that M&S is changed for good. We are determined to accelerate the aspects of our transformation necessary to thrive in this new consumer landscape so we can emerge a stronger, more streamlined business. This is why we have drawn up our “Never the Same Again” programme to harness our new habits and use the lessons of the crisis to make what feels like three years progress in one.

Customer assistants are always on hand in our stores to help customers at whichever type of till they are using.

Until the onset of Covid-19, we had seen improvements in the performance of Womenswear and Kidswear, whilst Menswear saw improving sales trends and Lingerie held its market leading share.

We know that customers have often found our sub-brands confusing and we have offered too many variations of similar products. The team has worked on this extensively and we now have clarified our sub-brands. For example, in Womenswear we have two clear brands, Autograph and Per Una, each with its own designers and brand managers to ensure each provides a bespoke offering. Per Una was relaunched last year, supported by its first standalone marketing campaign in five years, and the response from customers has been extremely encouraging.

In terms of quality, we maintain industry leading standards to ensure we’re offering customers the quality they expect from M&S. Over the past year we’ve continued to bring great talent into our clothing team, including in areas such as product technology, and are focused on ensuring we provide great quality from the offset. For example, when developing new products we work with proven materials and trims and work in close collaboration with our sourcing offices and key manufacturing partners.

COVID has created demand shock but as a brand we seem to have lost our values of being responsive, being empathic, trusted and innovative. Instead, we are focusing on Sparks and Victoria’s Secret, both of which don't feel a priority in the current climate. M&S used to lead the way in times of national crisis. What are we prioritising to uphold values and drive business for customers in current climate - at present customers feel very forgotten especially as other retailers are doing a much better job in comms, initiatives and experience.

Yes there has been a demand shock and coping with the crisis has been our priority. But the way we've responded as an organisation has been fantastic, thanks in large part to our people. Our colleagues have been instrumental in our response to the crisis - they've improvised, kept customers safe, kept stores running and gone the extra mile for our customers. Many of them have made personal shopping deliveries after work for vulnerable and elderly customers. There has never been more empathy at M&S. We were also the first retailer to make sure that vulnerable colleagues were furloughed, made sure our lowest-paid people were paid 100% of their salary, and gave a 15% pay increase to those that continued to work throughout the crisis.

As for Sparks, it is not a distraction. Sparks has been a big problem for M&S over the past 5 years; people have accrued lots of points and not really understood what they can do with them. As a trusted retailer, we can't continue giving out points and pretending that they're useful; so we're relaunching Sparks as an exciting new programme and replacing points so that people feel engaged and rewarded every time they shop with us. From money going to good causes, to customers having their shopping paid for, we want our customers to know that good things happen every time they shop at M&S.

Relaunching it is very exciting but customers will have to judge it during the months ahead. This is all about moving to a much more modern way of marketing - a digital first personalised approach where people feel rewarded and engaged with M&S, which is really important.

The Covid-19 crisis has illustrated how differently we can use technology, run stores and make decisions quickly, and as part of our accelerated transformation we have a number of important focuses for Clothing & Home, including:

• Reducing the range and shifting towards fast moving product at great value – resulting in a permanent reduction in Autumn/Winter store option count of 20%.
• Developing a faster, ‘near-sourcing’ supply chain to enable the test and re-order of seasonal fashion lines.
• Expanding the role of sourcing offices to deal with sampling, ordering and quality issues quickly.

We have also created a significantly renewed management team to implement this, with Richard Price joining on 6 July as Managing Director, Clothing & Home, having previously been CEO of F&F Clothing for Tesco plc.

Yes, we remain committed to increasing sales of healthier products and are doing so using our existing strengths in innovation, quality, and time-saving fresh food to make delicious, nutritious food available to more families. A priority for 2019/20 was to reset our Plan A strategy to better reflect the operating model of the business. We made good progress on this and clearly identified health and nutrition as a priority within the simplified framework shown on page 22 of our 2020 Annual Report. Our refreshed health commitments will be part of our Food strategy and be reported alongside our other Plan A targets.

We're really excited about our Food business and we were outperforming the competition before the crisis impaired us. Ocado will be hugely beneficial for M&S as it will increase our volume and give us access to Ocado's ability to buy branded products, which we hope to take advantage of. In terms of stores, Stuart Machin and the Food team have developed an exciting new format called the Renewal store, which we've implemented at Hedge End and Clapham Junction. Hedge End has been our number one store during the Covid-19 crisis, which gives us confidence to push this format out further.

We are committed to driving down greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution as part of our Plan A framework and working with our third-party contractors on logistics and home deliveries is a key area of focus. M&S Food has for many years been an early adopter of green technology in our retail delivery fleet, using electric vehicle technology where possible and enabling zero emission refrigeration of food on some store deliveries. From September, M&S Food will be available for home delivery via Ocado, who already operate a number of electric vehicles in their delivery fleet.

The Shareholder Voucher scheme was discontinued with effect from January 2020. There were numerous factors that ultimately led to this decision, including ever increasing print and mail costs, declining voucher redemption rates and our re-emphasis towards digital communication methods and away from paper mailings.

This change was communicated to all registered shareholders in the interim dividend mailing sent in January 2020. However, we were unfortunately unable to directly notify those with holdings in third party ‘nominee’ accounts as we do not have visibility to the beneficial owners’ names, addresses or any information about their shareholdings. This data is held by the relevant nominee company and is not accessible to M&S. There are no plans to replace the scheme at this time.

During lockdown and until our partnership with Ocado goes live in September, we have engaged in a limited partnership with BP and Deliveroo, so that customers can order via the Deliveroo app from BP shops stocking M&S product and 90 of our owned stores too.

In the absence of a full online food offer though, we looked for quick solutions to help us reach and support our isolated customers. In under two weeks we set up an online food box business, which we prioritised to customers over 70 via Sparks, selling over 100,000 of them in the first month. In addition, we were the first retailer to launch a volunteer gift card to make it easier for those shopping on behalf of self-isolating customers.

Like all other retailers, we’re planning for the end of the Brexit transition period and are continually monitoring the ongoing negotiations. All business units have Brexit working groups which meet regularly and report progress to the Executive committee. We also continue to engage with the government and industry bodies to ensure M&S’s views are represented.

On domestic producers, we do extensively support British producers and our commitment to supporting UK farming, through sourcing from select farms we know and trust and promoting the highest animal welfare standards, will not waiver. We currently work with around 10,000 British farmers and pay a leading price for milk and have renewed our commitment to British sourcing.  

We currently source around 50,000 tonnes of cotton each year, so it’s important that it’s produced in the right way. We recognise four types of sustainable cotton that our buyers can use – organic, recycled, Fairtrade and Better Cotton Initiative. Today 100% of our cotton for clothing comes from one of these sources.

Most of the cotton we source (approx. 95%) is grown to Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) standards, while the rest is made up of organic and recycled cotton. The BCI is a not-for-profit initiative that trains farmers on how to use water efficiently, care for the health of the soil and natural habitats, reduce use of the most harmful chemicals and apply decent work principles.

The Equiniti Payment Plus Scheme, through which M&S Shareholder Cards were available, closed to new participants in 2017 following a successful trial. Whilst shareholders with a Shareholder Card can continue to use it, cards are no longer being distributed and it is no longer possible to join the scheme. Cards are used in stores in the same way as any M&S gift card and should be retained by the customer after use.

Covid-19 has significantly impacted everyone around the world, and M&S and our suppliers have been no exception. We have worked closely with the UK government as well as other governments in countries where we operate to ensure we can continue to trade and serve customers safely. We have also worked closely with our suppliers to support them as much as we can during these unprecedented times, and fully support the efforts of the Ethical Trading Initiative and International Labour Organization in facilitating the coordination and distribution of emergency relief funds. Further information on our response to Covid-19 can be found on pages 50-53 of the 2019/20 Annual Report and Accounts.

The Board members present in the meeting were all wearing M&S. In terms of sizing, as Steve said at full-year results, we’ve made good progress in menswear and product is improving – for example knitwear is up 6%. We have introduced new cuts which have received positive feedback, but we said when we introduced them that the balance between classic and contemporary fits wasn’t quite right and we’ve corrected this.

We have taken a range of steps and implemented a number of initiatives, such as our colleague-led networks on gender, ethnicity (BAME), sexual orientation (LGBT+), and disabilities and health conditions. During 2019/20 we held our fourth Diversity & Inclusion Festival, engaging thousands of colleagues across M&S, and have continued our involvement in the 30% Club to promote increasing female representation on UK company Boards. We also launched our Breakthrough Leaders programme, which aims to develop and accelerate the progression of our business’s diverse talent pool, and continue to be actively involved in key campaigns including LGBT+ Pride celebrations, International Women’s Day, Black History Month, National Inclusion Week, Mental Health Awareness Week and World International Day of Disability. Additionally, through our Marks & Start and Marks & Start International programmes, we continue to support young people, the homeless, lone parents and those with disabilities in finding work in our stores and distribution centres.

However, we recognise that there is more to do and we will continue to take action to become a truly diverse and inclusive business.

At this stage, there is no plan for priority slots for shareholders. Ocado operates robotic Customer Fulfilment Centres, and they are currently running at capacity, so slots are likely to be very limited when we first launch. However, we have plans with Ocado to substantially increase capacity, thanks to expansion at new and existing CFCs currently in progress. We should start to see results from these in the new year, but this expansion plan is a 3-5 year process.

As we said in our Annual Report, one of our key priorities is addressing our ageing store estate to meet rapidly changing customer behaviours. Through our 'Never The Same Again' programme we have committed to accelerating this in a number of ways. These include, relocating ageing stores as opportunities arise to move to new sites, maintaining clear dialogue with landlords, focusing our expenditure on growth by extending our Food renewal formats and proposals to redevelop some of our older, larger city centre stores, and accelerating the expansion and integration of technology into our store environments to support store colleagues. However, there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the post-Covid-19 retail environment, making it exceptionally difficult to forecast the medium to long-term impact on our stores.

Last year in Womenswear, reshaping the buy and offering more contemporary style resulted in improving performance up until the onset of Covid-19. In denim for example, our market leading position was extended with a sales uplift of over 10% over two years.

However, we recognise that there is more to do, and much of this has already been brought forward by the Covid-19 pandemic. The reduction in range and shift towards fast moving product at great value will result in a permanent reduction of 20% in Autumn/Winter store option count, resulting in a reduction equivalent to 30% over the next 2 years.

Extensive work has also taken place with sub-brands. We now have two clear sub-brands, Autograph and Per Una, each with its own designers and brand managers to ensure it is a bespoke offering. The relaunch of Per Una last year received a great customer response, having been supported with its first standalone marketing campaign in five years.

Like all businesses, we are working through what the new working patterns look like in terms of office vs remote, be that from home or from one of our stores, and this will be dependent on the needs of individual teams. In terms of childcare, we support flexible working for all parents. In stores, a high proportion of colleagues work on a part-time basis (c.70%), providing flexibility for childcare and, more broadly, we encourage initiatives such as job shares/term time hours.

No, M&S colleague discount will not be available via Ocado.

Last year we removed over 2,000 tonnes of plastic by either eliminating the need for any packaging, particularly in Food, or improving the design so that less plastic is needed. Our goal is to close the loop on plastic by ensuring 100% of our packaging is widely recyclable by 2022. We’re currently at 77% of the way there, and that has been helped by our elimination of black plastic, widely used in ready meals, that is not recyclable by many local authorities. We are also investigating the use of compostable plastic, working in collaboration with Imperial College London to develop this.

In addition, we no longer offer single use plastic carrier bags, and all of our multi-use carrier bags are made from recycled plastics. When our partnership with Ocado goes live in September, Ocado will be continuing its practice of recycling all plastic bags from deliveries too.

We are so proud of the hard work of our colleagues over the last few months, and the 15% uplift in pay that we implemented with effect from 5th April was absolutely well-earned. However, from August 1st the Government is reducing the level of support offered to businesses for colleagues who have been furloughed. This change, coupled with the easing of restrictions and the challenging trading backdrop, means we have reviewed the level of support we are offering to colleagues. The 15% cash award for operational colleagues in stores in recognition of the fantastic effort during those difficult first few months of the crisis will be extended to 31st July but will then end.

We want to build on the flexibility and adaptability our teams have shown throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, helping them to be more self-sufficient through better technology, such as Microsoft Teams. As of today over 90% of our support centre colleagues use Teams for chat, calls and meetings. Teams isn't confined to our support centres; it's live at all UK stores too, meaning every colleague in the country is now digitally-enabled. This has helped to instil a digital-first culture across the entire organisation and transform the possibility of communication. Leadership are now talking directly to store managers and section managers at the touch of a button: a two-way street where essential documents can be shared quickly with front-line teams and stores can respond with instant feedback - in turn, making M&S more efficient, and allowing us to act quicker, adapt quicker and learn quicker.

We’re also empowering our colleagues in other ways, such as our Suggest to Steve initiative which allows colleagues to submit their suggestions (however big or small) on how we can improve the business direct to our CEO.

It was a difficult decision not to pay a final dividend for the financial year 2019/20, and we therefore appreciate our shareholders’ patience. This was one of a suite of cost and capital actions totalling £1bn that the company has taken in response to Covid-19 to help us secure the future of the business.

When we announced our full year results, we confirmed that Steve Rowe will receive no bonus for 2019/20. Additionally, the executive annual bonus scheme for the 2020/21 financial year has been cancelled and the maximum opportunities under the Performance Share Plan reduced from 250% of salary to 175%. In March, we also shared that Steve’s salary has been frozen, in line with measures implemented across the wider business.

We have announced to all 7 million of our Sparks members that we will be relaunching Sparks from Thursday 9 July 2020. We've made significant investments to improve the personalisation of Sparks for customers, including the regular offers customers told us they love whilst removing those aspects they told us were confusing, such as points. These will continue to be part of the new scheme, alongside new, exciting rewards and regular, personalised ‘thank yous’ and treats.

We have been working hard to reduce our range complexity. For example we have reduced our range of men’s casual trousers from 12 to just 4. We now also offer more differentiation in fit, selling regular, slim and skinny fit. With this drastic reduction in ranges, we understand that some customers are likely to be disappointed having previously bought into ranges that have been discontinued. However, we are doing our best to cater to customers to the greatest possible extent through rationalised ranges and are working tirelessly on our e-commerce proposition, with product differentiation as a key focus.

Across menswear, womenswear and kidswear we’ve worked hard to change what was a very confusing sub-brand structure.

In Menswear, as in Womenswear, the vast majority of items are labelled ‘M&S Collection’ with a real focus on everyday style and value. M&S Collection encapsulates a wide range of product, from outstanding value cotton t-shirts up to more expensive lines such as our feather and down padded jackets, and ensures customers are offered fantastic value at every price point. Our premium Menswear offer falls within the Autograph brand, which is where we deliver supima cottons, cashmeres and Italian yarns coupled with a refined aesthetic and additional details.

Even before lockdown, closing stores and upgrading our space to reflect how customers want to shop has been a part of our transformation programme. And like many other retailers, during this Covid-19 pandemic we have seen a clear acceleration of customers turning to shopping online. Over 365,000 existing customers shopped M&S.com for the first-time during lockdown, and M&S has seen over 700,000 new downloads of its App since March.

In terms of stock, there are a number of ways that we have been managing the surplus. Fortunately, much of our stock is non-seasonal wardrobe staples and can be rolled over into Autumn/Winter, while some of our Spring/Summer stock will be placed into deep storage for future years. We have also launched a Rainbow Sale and will be donating 10% of the purchase price of every sale item to NHS charities together.

Covid-19 rapidly accentuated the headwinds and spending habits the clothing sector had experienced throughout the 2019/20 financial year, whilst the closure of bricks and mortar retailers resulted in a greater shift towards online shopping. The crisis began to have a significant impact on the business in early March and the effect on sales, colleagues and customers became dramatic with the onset of lockdown. In response, we took over £1bn of actions to manage our liquidity, reduce costs and stabilise our cashflow. In Clothing & Home, we have taken steps to manage our backlog of unsold stock and future orders in an environment where demand is likely to remain weak for some time.

Looking ahead, through our ‘Never the Same Again’ programme we are bringing forward the aspects of our transformation necessary to thrive in a changed consumer landscape and become an online winner in Clothing & Home and Food. For example, reducing our ranges and shifting towards fast-moving, great value product will permanently reduce our Autumn/Winter store option count by 20%. The role of our sourcing offices will be increased to handle more sampling, ordering and quality issues, while a faster “near-sourcing” supply chain will be developed to enable a test and re-order of seasonal fashion lines.

We applied IFRS 16 for the first time in the 2019/20 financial year and did so using the fully retrospective method, with the date of initial application of 31 March 2019. Note 29 of our financial statements (page 166 of the Annual report), sets out the year-on-year impact of restating the FY1819 accounts for the impacts of IFRS 16. In FY1819 at a Group level there was a £135.7m impact to Operating profit as a result of implementing the new accounting standard IFRS 16. As IFRS 16 was adopted with effect for the first time this year we are not required to present a pre and post IFRS 16 view of the FY1920 numbers. However, a full year-on-year bridge for C&H operating profit, post IFRS 16, can be found in the Full Year Results presentation provided on 20 May 2020, available on our corporate website (slide 9).

Our proposition is in line with the market – with next day click & collect and home delivery both available. Having said that we recognise there are areas we need to improve on – for example we are working to reduce our standard delivery time (currently 3 – 5 days).

From the outset we said we were taking all possible steps to defer supply and a very large part of our core business is less seasonal year-round essential product (plain tees, jeggings etc) which provides some scope for carrying forward stock.

We announced in May at our full year results that stringent action to reduce or postpone orders from suppliers together with measures to hibernate a small amount of stock resulted in a relatively clean stock position by the end of the year.

More widely our Rainbow Sale had strong sell through and raised £8m for NHS Charities Together (an organisation we continue to support through our Sparks loyalty scheme).

I note the massive reduction in the Pension surplus (£1.3bn), caused by revised “financial assumptions” per p152 of the ARA. Is this caused by management/Trustees improving benefits to pensioners, or just changes in the external economic outlook? Page 150 of the ARA lists 4 changes to the Financial Assumptions. How much of the £1.3bn is caused by each of these?

At 3 April 2021, the IAS 19 net retirement benefit surplus was £631.4m (2019/20: £1,902.6m). The surplus at last year end had increased significantly due to unusually high credit spreads as a result of Covid. During the year, credit spreads have reverted to more normalised levels giving rise to the decrease in the surplus. For info, the surplus at year-end 2018/19 was £914.3m.

The Board answered this question during the live AGM, which can be found at 45:02 of the recording.

We are committed to providing all of our colleagues with a safe working environment and an organisational culture which promotes diversity, inclusivity, personal development and mutual respect and we know the Board and leadership team play a vital role in this commitment.

This year we updated our Inclusion & Diversity (I&D) strategy, publishing seven new I&D training modules and a suite of new policies and line manager guides, aimed at supporting and highlighting to colleagues the importance of delivering an inclusive culture within a diverse environment.

We do provide regular updates as business both at results and through our corporate news channels.

All shareholders can sign up to receive e-comms from M&S to receive regular updates and insights on the transformation of the business direct to their inbox.

At M&S we're aiming to deliver great quality products with broad appeal, and lead by a diverse board which is made up 40% women. But we know we can do more in this area and our ambition is to strengthen diversity throughout senior leadership and the wider business.

The Board answered a live question on product availability during the AGM, which can be found at 57:05 of the recording.

We have been working hard to modernise our supply chain to improve availability and minimise waste. This should increase the availability of key produce items.

Clearly pandemic has accelerated the trends that were already in train across the retail sector – particularly the high street.

Our job is to focus on delivering our long-term transformation programme to restore M&S to sustainable profitable growth.

In the past year we have made good progress under our Never the Same Again programme and we are now emerging from the pandemic as a reshaped business into a new phase focused on future growth

The announcement of the Rights Issue coincided with the announcement of our final, full year results on 22nd May, since this was the point at which the Company was able to make a formal announcement regarding the deal with Ocado following an intense period of discussion and negotiation between both organisations. Before we could launch the Rights Issue, we were required to produce a prospectus that contained financial information first which was published by the Company in the full year results press release. The prospectus received FCA approval on 24th May and the Rights Issue was formally launched on 31st May, running for a period of ten days through to 10th June, in line with the timetable agreed between M&S and Ocado.

Although aligned, neither the timing of the full year results announcement nor the final dividend timetable was directly impacted by the Rights Issue since both were agreed well in advance of the conclusion of talks with Ocado.

We believe in the digital format as it enables all our shareholders to join and equally participate in the meeting without travel.

In the digital format we have delivered a near 200% increase in shareholder engagement compared to the last in-person meeting in 2019.  

This year we have taken the format further by introducing Kamal Ahmed as our shareholder advocate who put shareholders questions direct to the Chairman and executive team.

As a result, we grew both shareholder engagement and participation receiving 118 questions, which is over 50% more than last year and compares to less than 30 questions at our last physical meeting.

As is the case with the physical meeting, there is a limit to the number of questions which can be answered during the AGM itself. However, we grouped questions to cover as many themes as possible live, and committed to answering every single question submitted either on the website or via direct response after the meeting.

We do take diversity very seriously. We have a Board that is diverse in its talent base, its background and what it brings to the Company. We are a business that is in the process of turnaround and transformation, and the most important thing for me is to have a Board with great expertise that is actively committed to making the business succeed again. You are absolutely right in saying that Vindi Banga did bring us additional piece of diversity and we would like to make sure that in the future we have that. 

While we commend M&S for its commitment to generate at least 50% of its sales from healthier products by 2022, we note that such products currently only represent 38% of sales. What actions is M&S taking to ensure this target is met and are you planning to formulate new commitments for the post-2022 period?

This question was answered by the directors in the live AGM broadcast and can be found at 1:20:00 of the recording.

We are always striving to do more to support our customers to make healthy choices. That’s why we are currently working towards the following five pledges as part of our health strategy:

• 50% of our sales will come from our healthier products (Eat Well)
• Proof Point – Eat Well products account for 38% of our sales* and we have active new product development and trade plans to grow this over the next 12 – 18 months to hit our target.
• We will double the sales of vegan and vegetarian products by 2024.
• Proof Point – We have ambitious plans to grow Plant Kitchen from £39m* to £75m and introduce more vegetarian options across our food hall.
• Our extensive reformulation programme will reduce the number of HFSS products and achieve all 2024 Calorie & Salt targets
• Proof Points: Over the next year we will reformulate over 100 products to no longer be High in Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS). Currently 68% of our products meet the Government’s 2024 maximum salt targets and 79% of our products meet the 2024 maximum calorie targets*.
• We will help as many customers as we can by building positive health benefits in our products.
• Proof Point: We commit to having at least a third of our Remarksable trusted value range as Eat Well, our Fresh Market Special promotions incentivise customers to buy more fresh fruit and veg and all our bread (including sandwiches) is a source of Vitamin D and fibre.
• Always taking the trusted approach to health
• Proof Points: For over 15 years we have had a dedicated nutrition team and have offered a valuable Ask the Nutritionist service. Our long-standing partnership with British Nutrition Foundation ensures we have strong science-led policies and strategy.

*based on March 2021 sales.

We believe in the digital format as it enables all our shareholders to join and equally participate in the meeting without travel., and it has helped us to significantly increase shareholder engagement.

As the Board were filming under studio conditions and therefore not available for physical interaction, shareholders were advised not to attend in person this year. As we have demonstrated the success of this format, it is unlikely to change in 2022.

You say that M&S now stands on a burning platform - would you blame those whom you describe in the Annual Report as “highly capable management teams who have come and gone with perfectly sensible plans and yet the long-term downward trajectory of business has continued”?

We have set out in incredible detail both this year and last of the challenges we face. We are very straightforward about that. I think it is very important, because you have all said it to us, too. We all know that we have a hill to climb, and we are climbing up that hill. What I do think is that we are putting together an extremely capable and hardworking management team that have faced the facts. What I do promise you is that we will be very straightforward with you, not just at this meeting, but in future years about the progress we are making, the progress we are not making and the issues we face. 

This year we've made progress as part of our never the same again transformation in turbocharging our online business.

This includes the launch of MS2, our integrated clothing and home online and data business, which has resulted in strong online growth and establishing a base of 9m customers making it one of the largest online platforms in the UK.

But we're always looking at ways to improve our customer experience and will take this on board and share with the team so that we can continue this growth and achieve our ambition of having 40% C&H revenue through MS2 in three years' time

That is a really relevant question to our trading issues today. It is fundamental to the business that we get the basics right. The basics are the wardrobe staples that our customers expect from us, with great fit, great quality and great value. These are real retail basics: having the right product in the right place at the right time. Too often in this season, I am afraid, we have not done that. Our ratios have not been correct, which is why you have experienced certain key lines selling out, and we are introducing a new ratio tool to tackle that. Secondly, we need to buy fewer lines in more depth. Importantly, in things like trousers, we need a broader range of fits, which we are doing. We also need to offer more natural fibres, not just cotton but others such as wool, in the range for the autumn. This is absolutely fundamental to us and we are taking action.

Every Board member and Executive Committee member owns M&S shares. Each director’s shareholding is published in our annual report every year and an announcement is made via the London Stock Exchange’s Regulatory News Service (‘RNS’) within 48 hours of any acquisition of shares by our directors and Executive Committee members (‘PDMR’s). You can set up news alerts to receive these updates.

Throughout the last 5 years M&S has been through a number of redundancy programmes. How does M&S view its Head Office and Store functions today vs 5 years ago and was the cost of redundancy money well spent? Can you confirm total expenditure on redundancies in the last 5 years?

The changes to the retail sector and to the wider economy over the last five years have been profound and our transformation has included a number of activities to reduce costs as the shape of the business changes.

While there have been redundancies, we have also added roles in growth areas such as Simply Food and warehouse and distribution centres.

We have a line in the adjusting items in our financial statements covering ‘organisational change’. However, this relates to more than redundancies as this cost is not publicly disclosed. However, we are confident that our recent organisational restructurings have placed us in a better position to emerge from the recent crisis with a return to long-term and sustainable profitability.

We are proud of the role we play in our local communities both through the service to customers and time committed by colleagues in helping those that need it most.

In the past year as part of our efforts to support the response to the pandemic we raised and donated over £8.3m to NHS charities together as our fantastic colleagues and customers raised funds from our Rainbow Sale or Sparks donations.

This year, we are continuing to support our long-term partners Macmillan, Breast Cancer Now, Royal British Legion and Shelter, as well as supporting thousands of local charities through our food redistribution programme with Neighbourly.

You can read more about our community engagement in our Annual Report and Plan A Report.

I'm a regular Ocado customer and see the partnership with M&S as a great step forward. Will the Board bring forward a plan with Ocado that will make us promote your commitment to the environment and ethical standards: avoiding plastic, increasing vegetarian and vegan options and reduce food miles?

We are transforming M&S for the long term into a sustainable and profitable business which is both commercially successful and socially and environmentally responsible, and this includes how we work with our partners. It is entirely right that one of the benefits of the Ocado tie up is that we have agreed with them that it is completely open book. We are going to share all information on both sides: their customers and our customers etc. That also gives us great information as to how customers are behaving and how we can adopt new products. They might be vegetarian, meat free or dairy free. Where they are selling, we can pick them up and sell them into our shops as well. There is a benefit in every direction, so thank you for that.

Between 2004 and 2019 M&S operated a shareholder perks scheme. However, costs became increasingly prohibitive and voucher redemption rates were declining year on year. As a result, the scheme stopped in January 2020 and there are no current plans to re-instate it.

This is covered in Archie’s welcome address which you can watch here.

Our Never the Same Again strategic priorities are aimed at ensuring we never return to slow ways of working.

To ensure we maintain the agility set during the pandemic, our governance framework has been significantly compressed, increasing our responsiveness to the changing situation and streamlining our decision-making process

We have had a dedicated Health Strategy for many years and offer a broad range of healthier options in our stores, including our newer, meat-free ‘Plant Kitchen’ range. We want to continue to inform and support our customers in making healthier choices. We were the first retailer to introduce colour coded on-pack nutritional information on prepared food and we include the ‘Eat Well’ sunflower logo on our products that comply with the UK Government's Eat Well guide. We have also replaced snacks that are high in fat, sugar and salt at our checkouts with healthier alternatives to discourage impulse purchases. We understand that this is an area of increasing concern for our customers and we are always looking to develop new, healthier products to ensure these needs are met.

We work closely with our partner M&S Bank to ensure all products and promotions are focused on driving long term customer growth.

The share price has been impacted by the dilutive effect of the Rights Issue as 325 million new shares were issued into the market.

Since the JV announcement on 27 February 2019. The M&S share price is down 25%, while the Ocado Group share price is up 18%. However, the FTSE index of general retailers is down 15% over the same period.

Economic and political uncertainty has caused volatility in the market and put pressure on share price of consumer-focused companies. It is important to note that the Ocado Group are now principally a fast-growing technology and solutions business which helps offset any weaknesses in consumer confidence. They have also successfully executed several deals selling their technology internationally.

We are focused on building long term, sustainable, profitable growth for our investors and the JV with Ocado will help to realise that aim.

You say in your statement on page 2 of Annual Report that you are in the third year of "gargantuan transformation programme" and are "only halfway through profound change". My question is, would you be able to reverse the downfall of the company since you joined in September 2017?

This was covered live at the AGM and can be found at 43:33 of the recording.

A number of macro-economic factors impact the share price, however the long-term goal of restoring M&S to sustainable profitable growth has not changed and we are focused on achieving this first and foremost.

This year under our never the same again programme we have made a number of significant changes which we believe will mean M&S will emerge stronger from the pandemic. Archie has already set out that in financial terms – it was a lost year – and early on in the crisis we took decisive cost and cash action to help secure our future.

In the face of Covid challenges we delivered a resilient performance and under NTSA, we accelerated parts of our transformation necessary to help us win in a post Covid market. The switchover to Ocado, the re-launch of Sparks as a digital first scheme, the launch of third-party brands and the creation of MS2 – bringing together our C&H online and data business – helping us maximise our omni-channel advantage.

We are emerging as a reshaped M&S – and confident we are moving on from fixing the basis to the next phase of our transformation so we can begin to shape the future and build a trajectory for sustainable, profitable growth.

The Board answered this question during the live AGM, which can be found at 1:25:59 of the recording.

This is covered in Steve’s AGM presentation, which can be watched here.

The impact of the pandemic both on our business and the wider retail sector and economy has been profound and we quickly recognised that we needed to get ahead of these changes so that we could accelerate our transformation and deliver for our customers. We therefore launched our never the same again programme aimed and embracing the changes and using the crisis as a catalyst for change in the business so that we can achieve our long term of goal of restoring M&S to sustainable profitable long-term growth. As a result we have this year delivered a number of significant changes to the business in the year, including a strong pivot towards online sales through the launch of Ocado for Food and MS2 for Clothing & Home, which we believe will ensure we emerge from the crisis not only changed but as a stronger business well set up to serve customers in a transformed retail sector. 

The M&S Pension Trust (the Trustee) is legally responsible for managing the M&S Pension Scheme and acting in the best interests of members and their beneficiaries. The Trustee is independent, and the Scheme’s assets are held separately by the Trustee.

The Scheme is well funded and, as at the date of the last actuarial valuation (at 31 March 2018), it had a surplus of £652m. This represented a funding level of 107% and a continued improvement in funding level from a surplus of £204 million (102%) as at the previous actuarial valuation (at 31 March 2015). As a result of the funding level of the Scheme, no additional contributions are currently required from M&S.

The Trustee receives regular financial updates from M&S plc so that it can, with independent expert advice, keep a close eye on the financial health of the business. The Trustee’s prudent investment strategy continues to protect and enhance the security of members’ pensions. But it’s important to be aware that a surplus doesn’t necessarily mean that the Trustee has too much set aside, as over the life of the Scheme’s members the value of the Scheme’s assets can go up or down over time and the assumptions used to work out the liabilities might change in the future too.

For more information on the results of the last actuarial valuation please see: https://www.mandspensionscheme.com/financial-health-check.

Fred Sirieix is our wine advisor, we used him to help promote the Dine-in in January but have since phased that out and now no longer use anybody to promote dine in.

We continue to innovate with Dine-In to keep the popular offer relevant for our customers – such as extending to a family of four dine in option too

M&S is committed to paying all our colleagues fairly and are proud to have one of the lowest turnover rates in the retail sector with colleagues who stay with the business for many years.

Both our permanent and fixed term workers who we set the rate of pay for are treated consistently and receive above the national living wage

We also work closely with our suppliers through our global sourcing principles which outline that suppliers should pay a fair wage and work towards paying a fair living wage.

We value the independence to get the basics right for our colleagues and set competitive rates of pay alongside wider benefits – as we did earlier this year increasing earnings for hourly colleagues ahead of inflation and above the national living wage – and are currently not considering accreditation with the living wage foundation.

We've seen a number of customers sign up since we relaunched our Sparks programme last year - growing the scheme by over 4m new customers in a year to just over 11m. We appreciate the feedback from all our shareholders (and customers) and will continue to review our scheme so that we can deliver personalised value and rewards every time customers shop with M&S.

Will the quality and availability of M&S food be maintained when the Ocado JV is underway? Will volume and profit targets affect the allegiance of Ocado customers who like Waitrose quality? Will stock supplied to food stores be sacrificed to ensure sufficient stock to meet demand via the Ocado channel? Will the loss of custom from closures to the store estate be more than offset via online ordering?

Our partnership with Ocado is about bringing the best together, combining our highly rated food quality with Ocado's market leading proprietary technology, and we have no intention dropping the quality of our products.

Our ‘Fuse’ programme is focused on making sure we improve our availability and we are committed to working with our partners to drive ongoing improvement in this area.

Our store reshape strategy is about ensuring that our stores are in the right places for our customers and not simply reducing our overall number of stores. Of the stores that have closed, we continue to see good recapture rates of over 20% and we expect our partnership with Ocado to support this via an additional sales channel. However, we believe in the growth potential of the JV rather than simply seeing it as an off-setting.

The Board answered this question during the live AGM, which can be found at 57:05 of the recording.

The Board challenge management at every Board meeting, Committee meeting and in one-on-one sessions.

A couple of notable examples from this year include the scrutiny provided over the Three Year Plan and Colleague Redundancies.

Shareholders are encouraged to read our most recent s.171(1) Statement on pages 34 to 36 and the Governance section on pages 58 to 110 of our Annual Report for further information.

All registered questions will have answers posted to the corporate website by the close of business on 10 July 2019.

The website also contains the archive of all shareholder questions asked at AGMs since 2012.

This is a standard corporate authority we seek approval for every year at the AGM.

M&S did not pay any political donations during the year, and has no present intention of doing so in the year ahead.

However, ordinary course activity which we would see as representing our views to wider government and business interests could be caught under this authority.

The resolution contains a limit of £50,000.

We are clear of the big part electric vehicles will play in getting to net zero both in our fleet and enabling customers and colleagues to have access to charging facilities. 

We are working through the delivery roadmap for our net zero target over summer and will publish our plans in the Autumn 2021.

We have signed up to the British Retail Consortium Climate Action Roadmap which has identified the need for collaborative action on logistics and transport to reach our shared goals of net zero.

We are actively testing EV charging for our customers. There are 6 locations now with a further 4 planned this year. There will be charging points with a mix of Fast and Rapid charging via Podpoint and BP Pulse. (Maidstone, Cheshire Oaks, Handforth, Gemini, Manchester, Eccleshall Road, Sheffield).

Our aspiration is to be famous for contemporary, wearable style at great value. In the year ahead, we expect to deliver a marked reduction in lines and range duplication, improved availability with a substantial increase in the number of '£1m+' lines for Autumn, a significant improvement in size ratios, further focus on style and fashion and additional investment in value. We are also updating our sub brand strategy, including the re-launch of the Per Una range where the initial customer reaction to early changes we have made has been positive.

We hope to shift to a 'first price, right price' trading philosophy, and further reduce the percentage of Clothing & Home sold at discount which remains too high. 

Finally, we will see the first full collections from the leadership team brought in to overhaul the Clothing & Home business. Jill Stanton, Womenswear and Kidswear Director and Wes Taylor, Menswear Director first full collections will be launched later this year for Autumn Winter 19.

A number of macro-economic factors impact the share price. However, lower profits have been a factor in the decline in share price in the last 8 years.

While food has been resilient, Clothing & Home has taken longer than we first planned to turnaround.  However, with an improved product offer, the MS2 initiative to prioritise online growth supported by our stores and significant actions on costs mean we are more confident that the transformation has moved to the next phase after a long period fixing the basics.

The directors answered a live question on the share price, which can be found at 43:33 of the recording.

You’re right that our returns process needed work and at the end of June we launched a new mobile-friendly customer returns journey, allowing shoppers to select their preferred route for returning any items purchased on the M&S.com platform.

The portal was created using direct customer feedback and is found in ‘my account’ on M&S.com. It is part of a new process which removes previous customer “pain points” within the shopping journey such as the need to use a printer or to find for the right paper summaries amongst your orders.

As part of the new process we are committed to paperless deliveries saving 205 tonnes of paper every year, this is part of our approach to offering sustainable shopping.

It is essential that we have the right products in stores in order to create a buzz. At our full year results, we said we're making substantial changes in Clothing & Home to improve 'shape of buy', sizing, customer focus and style. We have to create that buzz in stores by giving customers what they want: good store environments, great service and great product and we are working on that.  As we get it right, we hope that customers come into stores and reappraise our brand.

It’s important to note that although Kensington High Street was quiet the day the shareholder visited, it is a great store, with a great team and does very well.

While we have had many valued supporters of M&S in the past, we have updated who we extend a discount on our products to so that this benefit is in the best interests of the business and our shareholders, making it available only to our anyone directly working for the business today.

As valued friends and historic supporters of M&S, we hope that all our former colleagues can understand the need for us to make a few changes to who we extend a discount to and will continue shopping our great products in future.

We are glad you like the store and appreciate your feedback. It is interesting that you mention being pleasantly surprised. Many customers are telling us the same and that is why we must modernise the estate. With regard to store closures, it is extremely difficult to close stores, but we are paying the price for not having closed stores 10, 20 or 30 years ago. We have an estate that goes back many years, with 75 stores that were opened before the Second World War.

Wherever we possibly can, any colleague in any store we are closing will be offered a role elsewhere in the business. We understand they can’t all relocate but we are very committed to making this work well. We are not just closing stores but opening stores to ensure our estate is modern, inspirational and has accessible stores that appeal to our target grow customers.

The last thing I will just say on this is that I think you will see, in the months ahead, some pretty spectacular new stores opening too. The publicity is generally around the closures; of course it is, but really it is rotation out of old legacy stores and into good new stores that will hopefully bring a great return to shareholders.

The Board consists of two Executive Directors and eight Non-Executive Directors. The Non-Executive Directors are not part of the day-to-day management of the Company, they provide independent oversight and constructive challenge to the Executive Committee (the ‘ExCo’).

The ExCo is separate from the Board; it consists of five members including the CEO and CFO and is responsible for executing strategy.

This doesn’t reflect the feedback we are receiving from majority of our colleagues. Over 50,000 responded to our Colleague Voice survey this year and 90% of them said they continue to feel proud to work for M&S.

Colleagues remain at the heart of our transformation and thanks to their commitment this year we were able to deliver a resilient performance.

In recognition of this we delivered a 15% uplift in pay to frontline colleagues for their work during the first lockdown.

We have also continued to invest in our colleagues increasing salaries of those paid hourly ahead of inflation.

We know we have more to do in creating a fully engaging and responsive place to work - but colleagues will always remain at the heart of our transformation.

Ocado currently uses plastic carrier bags for deliveries, as this protects products from damage during the picking process. Since 2007 though, Ocado’s Bag Recycle Bonus scheme incentivises customers to return carrier bags to delivery drivers and now 87% of bags are returned to be recycled into new bags. While Ocado continues to research and trial viable alternatives to plastic, we will continue to work with them in line with our Plan A values.

Board papers are shared via a secure platform called Board Intelligence, specifically designed to protect confidential information.

We do not believe our businesses are floundering; while we have lots of issues, we are making good progress.

The joint venture with Ocado will combine the strengths of our brand and leading food quality and innovation with Ocado’s unique proprietary technology to create an unrivalled online offer for customers. The value creation opportunities for the combined business include £70 million in anticipated synergies for the M&S Food business, from an uplift in volume achieved, improvements to our contractual terms with branded suppliers, and the ability to sell the full M&S range to customers.

The Board covered collaboration with third parties during the live AGM, which can be found at 1:34:20 of the recording.

As part of our brands strategy, we’re utilising a range of different ways of working with brands including consignment and wholesale models collaborations (such as Ghost) and selected opportunities for acquisitions – such as Jaeger.

We can offer time pressured customers a curated group of value for money, contemporary, stylish brands with sustainability credentials. During the year we introduced guest brands for the first time and now distribute for an initial group of 21 partners. Results have been very encouraging with further substantial growth planned.

In terms of selling M&S clothing via competitors, our current focus is on growing the M&S.com platform, including through curated brands on our site. Where this is opportunity to use third party platforms we will and do, for example in our international business we work with a range of platforms including Zalando and we also sell Clothing items through our partnership with Ocado.

Franchise revenue fell by 82% due to closures because of Covid, however many of our franchise stores have now reopened. We will continue to look at opportunities within our franchise business

M&S has a rich heritage and supports the arts via a number of different initiatives from our Archive in Leeds which has worked creatively with children to telling the story of the history of the business via a performance at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

One of our guiding behaviours is to 'Make every penny count' and as a business we are focused on doing just that. As a result at year end, the Group’s net debt excluding lease liabilities declined by £278.6m and total net debt was down £434.7m which included a £180m reduction in capital expenditure as a result of careful management of discretionary spending during the pandemic. However, we know we have more to do on managing costs and will be continuing to focus on this as part of our overall transformation.

We are committed to bringing back the voice of the stores, and ultimately the best interests of our customers, in our decision making. To assist with this, store managers have been provided with portable tablets so that they can spend more time with customers, and the leadership team is spending more time in stores with colleagues.

We partner CityFM for our maintenance and their experience and best in class systems are helping to improve service levels across our stores, distribution sites and offices, helping us to deliver a better shopping experience for our customers.

Financial performance

The impact of Covid on our business has been profound.

Archie has already set out that in financial terms – it was a lost year – and early on in the crisis we took decisive cost and cash action to help secure our future.

In the face of Covid challenges we delivered a resilient performance and under NTSA, we accelerated parts of our transformation necessary to help us win in a post Covid market.

The switchover to Ocado, the re-launch of Sparks as a digital first scheme, the launch of third-party brands and the creation of MS2 – bringing together our C&H online and data business – helping us maximise our omni-channel advantage.

We are emerging as a reshaped M&S – and confident we are moving on from fixing the basis to the next phase of our transformation so we can begin to shape the future and build a trajectory for sustainable, profitable growth.

Board Effectiveness

M&S's leadership team has undergone significant change and the externally facilitated Board Effectiveness Review established that the Board had maintained its existing strengths while developing the ExCo so that, collectively, there is effective oversight of key strategic themes, the transformation programme and the cultural and people agenda. We’re confident that the Board and management are in good shape to set and drive the Group's strategic priorities.

The collective skills and experience of the four new non-executive directors are aligned to the Company's post-Covid strategic priorities in 2020/21.

We are focussed on ensuring our products are in the right places at the right times for our customers, and we are in the early stages of modernising our supply chain network. Through our new FUSE programme, we are looking at how we better plan, buy and manage stock availability across both Clothing & Home and Food, for both stores and online.

There is an opportunity to extend our Clothing & Home reach by selling our products to customers through the Ocado joint venture, particularly as Ocado already offer products that we are market leaders in, including lingerie.

The wider Clothing & Home vision includes concentrating on improving merchandise and growing in areas where we are market leader, such as lingerie, denim, schoolwear and men’s suits, which we have achieved. We are now looking to branch out into more casual wear and having a third of our Clothing sales online. Last year, 22% of our UK Clothing business was online, so we are on the right trajectory to meet this target.

Julian Richer has recently done an amazing thing, to agree to pass on his business, Richer Sounds, to his employees through an employee-benefit trust. Over time, they will come to own a majority of the business.

We do not currently have plans to give free shares to employees, but we are strong advocates of colleague share ownership. We operate a number of share schemes for our colleagues, including 2 schemes for all employees: Sharesave, which has around 32,000 participants with an average monthly saving of £110; and, Sharebuy, with around 2,820 participants with an average monthly saving of £60.

We regularly review our colleague offering to make sure our schemes are relevant, provide value for money and drive the business strategy.

Plastic plays an important role in preserving food, maintaining quality, and preventing waste.

It also has environmental benefits in comparison to glass and is more efficient to transport.

We’re working collaboratively with the government, NGOs and the wider industry through initiatives like the UK Plastics Pact, enabling changes to the UK’s waste collection and recycling infrastructure.

We’ve phased out over 2,000 tonnes since 2018. Where it’s not possible to reduce or remove plastic, we’re redesigning packs to use as little as possible - like our new sandwich packaging, which now contains 40% less plastic for the transparent window.

We’ve replaced all plastic produce and bakery bags with widely recycled paper versions in all stores, and phased out single-use 5p carrier bags in favour of stronger, multi-use Bags for Life made from 100% of our own plastic waste.

We’ve also offered free re-usable tote bags to our 7million sparks customers.

Reshaping our store estate is challenging – but we continue to open new stores and invest in our estate as part of our transformation, to offer modern, inspirational and accessible stores in the right locations that appeal to our customers. We’re making good progress against our plan to close or relocate 100 C&H stores.

M&S in line with its policy and the wider market, can issue replacement equity (‘buy-outs’) to compensate senior hires who would be forfeiting their existing share awards in order to join M&S. 

The valuation of buy-out calculations will be scrutinised in advance by the leadership and Remuneration Committee, ensuring that M&S are only paying for the actual value of the equity being surrendered. In most circumstances M&S will structure the vesting of the replacement awards in tranches, ensuring that they have a retention benefit to the business.

Finally, all senior hires are subject to shareholding guidelines and they are unable to sell these shares until their individual threshold is met, ensuring alignment with shareholder interest (CEO – 250% of salary, CFO – 200%). In the case of Board directors (Executive) their shareholding guidelines apply for two years after leaving post as a further control that allows malus and clawback provisions to be applied more effectively.

Plastic plays an important role in protecting products and preventing food waste – we do, however, have a plan in place and are taking clear action to reduce, reuse and recycle. Last year we removed 1,000 tonnes of plastic – plastic cutlery in stores have been replaced with wooden cutlery, plastic straws have been phased out for paper, and plastic produce bags have been removed.

We plan to remove another 1,000 tonnes this year, and we are helping customers to play their part, through our plastic take-back scheme where non-recyclable packaging can be brought back to stores and we will recycle it into playground equipment.

This was answered in the live broadcast and can be found at 40:31 of the recording.

Total payments made to the CEO during the year reduced by just over 10%.

This reflects the cancellation of 20/21 annual bonus scheme and lapse of 2018 PSP award.

No pay increase to the CEO during the year, so fixed payments remained the same, in line with elsewhere in the business.

Total payments made to the CFO during the year included one-off payments and share awards for Eoin Tonge’s recruitment; prior year comparison figures therefore not available on like-for-like basis – however, current CFO’s package is aligned to previous CFO’s.

All of the above and further detail is available in the annual report.

We are in the process of reshaping our store estate and ensuring that we are positioned in the right places; the Ocado deal fundamentally transforms our online capability as a food retailer; and, we are taking action on climate change across our entire value chain, having reduced CO2 emissions by 75% as compared to 2007.

The Board answered this question during the live AGM, which can be found at 1:31:51 of the recording.

We’re incredibly proud of our ‘Nothing Neutral About it’ campaign, and as UK’s market leader in bras and knickers, we’re responsible for helping all women feel great in our products.

Feedback highlighted we weren’t doing enough on colour. Our lingerie team – with help from our colleague Culture and Heritage network – undertook a review of our ranges. The global conversations around race and equality following the horrific death of George Floyd last year, spurred us to go harder and faster in creating a more inclusive neutral lingerie range – offering more colours, more sizes and more choice than ever before – so more women can complement or contrast their skin tone.

Offering better, more inclusive lingerie helps make us more relevant, more often, to more people.

We have reduced our carbon emissions by 75% since 2007, and 16% in the last year alone, and the reduction of gross carbon dioxide emissions remain a priority commitment for us in line with Plan A.

This was answered in the live broadcast and can be found at 47:05 of the recording.

We have worked closely with the UK government as well as other governments in countries where we operate to ensure we can continue to trade and serve customers safely. We have also worked closely with our suppliers to support them as much as we can during these unprecedented times, and fully support the efforts of the Ethical Trading Initiative and International Labour Organization in facilitating the coordination and distribution of emergency relief funds.

As a result of site visit limitations during Covid-19, both in the UK in Foods and globally in C&H, our Worker Voice Programme was expanded, allowing us to hear directly from factory workers in our supply chain on their experiences.

Improved payment terms for small suppliers who rely on prompt payment to remain economically viable.

Further information can be found in our most recent s.171(1) Statement on pages 34 to 36 and the Governance section on pages 58 to 110 of our 2020/21 Annual Report.

The Board covered plans for our store estate during the live meeting and can be found at 49:06 of the recording.

A legacy estate is one of the biggest challenges we’ve faced, and our longer-term estate strategy has been developed on the basis of stress tests, regional modelling and efficiency requirements.

We’re planning to reduce our full line store base from 255 today to around 180 in a selection of prime and core retail markets as we rotate our estate.

We believe in stores and that they can be a true source of competitive advantage. But they need to be the right stores, in the right location and offer a brilliant omni-channel experience.

This question was answered by the directors in the live AGM broadcast

This was covered live and can be found in the AGM broadcast recording at 36:00.

The impact of Covid on our business has been profound.

For large parts of the year – we have not been able to trade our clothing & home store space and in food – much of our franchise and hospitality businesses have been closed.

To protect the business and secure our future we took substantive cost action early on in the crisis and that included the decision not to pay a dividend.

At our full year results, we said that our Board would keep the reinstatement of the dividend under review. However, we were clear that it is unlikely to be in current year, as our focus is on restoring profitability and ensuring strong finances first as we emerge from the crisis.

In line with government guidance we have reopened our fitting rooms with a number of measures in place to keep our customers safe and well. This includes reduced hours alongside regular cleaning, asking customers to sanitise their hands before entering and others. We appreciate your feedback and will keep our position under review.

This question was answered by the directors in the live AGM broadcast and can be found at 1:22:33 of the recording.

Communication preferences for receiving hard copy documents (including the annual report) versus emails can be set by contacting Equiniti directly or on Shareview.

We continue to drive digital engagement and reduce use of paper but under s.423 of the Companies Act 2006 (the ‘Act’) we must send a copy of our annual report to every shareholder who requests one.

We’ve been actively lobbying BEIS to reform the Act and allow for more digital engagement.

We encourage all of our shareholders to sign up for e-communications.

Currently 47,000 of our c.150,000 subscribe to ecomms and they benefit from more regular updates on M&S news and activity.

This question was answered by the directors in the live AGM broadcast and can be found at 1:08:03 of the recording.

Our partners at Ocado have been committed to being a good neighbour to the Tuffnell Park community since plans for the site were first submitted and they have worked hard to address the concerns of people living and working in the area.

And its proposal for the Bush Industrial estate is to build the greenest and quietest grocery facility in the UK with a 100% electric van fleet.

Ultimately – operational decisions sit with Ocado Group but we are confident that Ocado would be a responsible, engaged and supportive neighbour to the local community for the long term.

We have three clear sub-brands in womenswear: Autograph, Per Una and Goodmove, all with a bespoke area in store. Within the rest of the store products are split by type, e.g. jeans. Having said this, we are looking at more inspirational ways to display our products, particularly around outfits.

Our General Merchandise business did not achieve our expectations in the year. We know we have more to do, but we are also aware that we are on a journey. We have spent the last three years investing in this business to make it a stronger business for the long term. Outside of quarter by quarter performance, this is a stronger business today with stronger infrastructure and stronger people.  

We have a very well balanced Board with a huge amount of consumer experience, and, in the executives, we have a lot of textile experience as well.  We keep a detailed matrix of the range of skills we need on the Board. This is kept under constant review.

We have installed panels in eight stores to date. We are in discussion with Energy4All about expanding this to further locations but are unable to confirm anything at present as we are considering what additional stores are suitable for this initiative based on issues such as the structure of the buildings and associated financials.

The Twiggy Collection is available to all of our customers online.  The older customers are very digitally savvy, and a very large percentage of our online customers are in the older category.  Equally, in store, we have well over 2,000 iPads – so that customers in store can also order for delivery the next day.  Although it is not in store, everybody who wants to get the Twiggy range can get it, either delivered in store or to their home. 

We haven't and won't sell blue fin tuna. 95% of the tuna that we sell is skipjack where we have pioneered the sourcing of pole and line and have only used this method since 2009. Our yellow fin comes from responsibly managed fisheries which are deemed sustainable. We only use hand line and long fishing systems. We don't use the indiscriminate systems such as purse seine and fish aggregating devices we helped found the global tuna alliance to further encourage responsible sourcing.

In 2017/18 all the palm oil used in M&S products were ‘Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’(RSPO) certified. This is up from 90% the previous year. The 3% remaining is covered by the purchase of RSPO credits (previously known as Green Palm certificates). Additionally, we sit on the Board of the RSPO and we are helping to drive standards and encourage the transition to sustainable suppliers.

We review the shareholder vouchers each year and have found the Spend and Save offer to be very popular with high rates of redemption. Alongside this, we also have a 10% voucher with no minimum spend threshold.

Pay for front line colleagues is well positioned against the UK retail market, and we offer the best total reward package of any major UK retailer. We have engaged with our franchise partners on their pay rates, sharing our experience of increasing pay in a sustainable way. We have a 2025 commitment on living wage – that includes our extended supply chain. We are making progress on this.

I have looked at our sizing in stores, and we do have a huge number.  Within our lingerie range, we have approximately 44 different sizes.  However, if our customers tell us it needs reviewing then we will review it.

The sales have been phenomenal, and the number of people suddenly wearing waistcoats is fantastic and will be looking forward to the British public getting involved in 'Waistcoat Wednesday' in support of the team. The wives and girlfriends are a slightly different issue as we have to talk to them individually, but we look for celebrity endorsements in a number of places and I think that is an interesting idea.

This year we did not meet our expectations, and no bonuses were paid as a result of it. In a business and as a Board, you have to do the things that you think are right for the business to build it for the long term, even if sometimes, that is somewhat inconvenient.  A lot of what has been done over the last three years has been complex.

Two examples would be the website and the distribution reconfiguration.  On their own, each of them is the biggest project of its sort in Europe.  To land both of those at once is almost unprecedented in UK retailing, and that is what we are doing.  We are creating a much stronger business and we will see it through.

Obesity is an issue of national importance. At Marks & Spencer we have been clear for some time on our responsibility and our health credentials. The business offers over 1,500 lines classified under ‘Eat Well’ label. We are the market leader in healthy recipe dishes, with a 44% market share, and we continue to drive sugar and other additives out of our products. We have taken 110 million calories out of our Food over the past couple of years. We have also reduced the sugar in our cordials and juices by 50%, and for many years we have added no artificial colourants or preservatives to our Food. Additionally, we observe a policy of no sweets on till points in our own stores. Currently we are unable to extend this commitment to our franchise stores.

In recent years your staff discount card  has been extended to be used to shop online as well as in store.  However, for logistical reasons we only make one card available.  We will continue to keep this under review.

The store closure programme is about ensuring that we have a modern estate that fits the needs of our customers and the market place. The truth is much of our store estate is out of date. We have old stores in locations where people are no longer shopping, and I think we are paying the price for that as a business. It is a drag on our performance. It is also means that there are many stores that have wonderful colleagues in them, who are working their socks off, but we cannot afford to spend money on modernising those stores because it would not pay back.

We have now committed to grasping the nettle that perhaps should have been grasped many years ago and we have announced that 100 stores are set to close in total by 2022 and we hope to get through most of that in the first two years, but I cannot tell you it is going to end there.

It is crucially important that we manage the stores that are closing down really well, that we involve people through our business-involvement group as much as we possibly can, and that we treat them fairly and maximise their chances for redeployment. To date: 86% off our colleagues have transferred to other stores or Simply Foods, and we are delighted by that. We will maximise the opportunities available for those colleagues to move into other stores. The unfortunate truth is that, in some locations, it is not just viable, and I am afraid that there are likely to be some more redundancies, and we should be clear about that. We will make sure that any closures are as painless as they possibly can be, but I can tell, as you would expect, despite the sadness, our colleagues have shut stores with absolute dignity and professionalism. I would expect that to continue. 

Nobody in the business got a bonus this year because we did not meet our financial targets.  Shareholders and commentators expect bonuses to be paid when outstanding performance is delivered, and we have been very candid that we did not meet the expectations that we set ourselves.  Therefore, the Remuneration Committee, chaired by Steve Holiday, made the decision that bonuses would not be paid. This is not necessarily a question of failure, but supports the idea that bonuses are paid for outstanding performance against expectations. 

Mr Bolland has also asked for each of the last four years, not to be considered for a salary rise and he has not had one. 

No Chief Executive has left the Board in the last three years.  The executive team has been consistent throughout the year. What is reported in the newspapers is not always consistent with the underlying facts. 

At M&S we do set ourselves ambitious targets across the whole of our Plan A initiatives. As already stated publicly we intend to be a zero-waste business by 2025. That is very ambitious target. We were the first major retailer in the world to become a carbon-neutral business. Additionally, we have reduced our wastage and energy usage by more than 30%. By 2019, for example, 100% of our products will be BCI (‘Better Cotton Initiative’) compliant.

There is clearly more we can do with plastic and this is something we are taking extremely seriously. We have signed the UK Plastic Pact and we have a very special and committed team who are looking very carefully at how we make sure that we get rid of all single-use plastic, and action is being taken to remove all unnecessary plastic used across the business, making sure we only use plastic where there's a clear benefit and there is no viable alternative.

We have made it very clear we have a policy that is entirely respectful of everybody’s particular tastes, and it is a very rare event when we get things wrong. 

I take exception to that and I think it is an exaggeration. There is a great deal that is good about the company. However, we are not where we want to be. I just think there is a fine line between stating it as it is and self-flagellation. I am in the former camp, not the latter.

This question was answered by the directors in the live AGM broadcast and can be found at 1:02:47 of the recording.

We consider the investment in Ocado Retail to be a good one, which generated £78.4m of profit contribution last year.  

We think our Ocado Retail shares are worth more than we paid for them.

The executive directors asked that they should have no increase in salary to show solidarity at a time when staff were not getting bonuses.  I think that is a responsible way of behaving, which I hope you would applaud.

This question was answered by the directors in the live AGM broadcast and can be found at 1:06:21 of the recording.

Ocado Retail is only one driver of Ocado’s share price.

Ocado Group is considered to have a lot of future value in the online solutions services.

The value of our investment in ORL has been made clear by the profit contribution it has made last year (£78.4m) and we remain on track to deliver the expected synergies from the acquisition.

The genesis of any turnaround starts with the recognition of the unvarnished truth, the ability of the management to set corporate vanity on one side and communicate the urgency of change and the true state of the business internally and externally. This is something that we are continually addressing.

Jan has done an excellent job.  He has been with us for three years, leaves behind an extremely strong team, one of which has been promoted into his role.  I am glad to say that we have very strong bench-strength.  In the past three years as Chairman, I have seen the skill base of this company increase quite significantly in a number of areas, one of which is the International business. 

We try to accommodate people’s differing beliefs across the various roles within the business. 

At this stage we are not able to offer Sparks points with Ocado purchases but we will keep this under review.

Our second private shareholder panel met with Steve Rowe and other members of the senior leadership team in June 2018 for a roundtable and store tour in Westfield in White City. The key themes discussed were clothing concerns, our customers, availability and the sparks programme.

We have found the panel to be incredibly insightful and knowledgeable about M&S and have welcomed their views and challenges which we are routinely considering and taking on board as part of our decision-making processes.

Innovation has always been one of the core values of M&S.  We have tried to encapsulate our core values in four key words, one of which is innovation. M&S is at its best when it is innovating: when it is on the front foot, doing the things that it is great at.  There are lots of things in our GM business, all sorts of different innovations that have to be at the heart of this business.  And, if we start to forget, which we won’t, there is a portrait of Simon Marks in the boardroom to remind us. 

As a Board, we are obligated to never be close-minded about these things, but I must tell you that the answer to your question is no. We strongly believe that, if we deliver on our transformation plan, we can create a profitable, growing company in five years’ time. Today the value of our shares does not reflect the future potential in the brand. Our future is in our own hands, so our job is to transform the business to make a successful again. Once we have done that – and it is going to take time – then all the options are open.

Shop Your Way is such an important part of our business, and over 55% of our online business is Shop Your Way. 

One of the reasons why Laura has her increased responsibility is that working together with stores and online; all our channels will be properly focused on the customer.

A key part of looking at the business for the long term is what the property portfolio looks like. Our job as a Board is to look beyond the present to where we might be in the future, and we frequently debate how our store portfolio is structured.

We plan to open 150 Simply Food stores over the next period of time.  We are fortunate, in a sense, to be able to reconfigure our store estate to focus on Food or General Merchandise in different ways.  Stores that do not perform are always reviewed.

Ocado doesn’t operate across whole of the UK, so not all colleagues wouldn’t be able to access the benefit.

At this stage, it is not affordable given large number of colleagues employed by M&S and relatively small size of Ocado Retail.

We are the leaders in healthy-eating food, and healthy eating is one of the core principles underlying Plan A.  Healthy eating is a huge problem in the UK and in many other parts of the world, and we will play our part in trying to shape healthier habits over the course of time.  This is an industry issue as well – but we will be at the forefront.

People rightly expect a very high level of service from M&S, and this includes seeing management on the shop floor. This is something that has become a priority under Steve’s leadership and I am disappointed that this has not been reflected in your experience of visiting our stores.

As part of modernising our store estate we need to ensure that our processes are right, and that we are using technology in the right way so that colleagues are not tied up doing office-based tasks but are interacting with customers on the shop floor.

We have no current plans to bring back St Michael.

Having said this quality absolutely remains fundamental to our approach and is an important part of improving our product engine.

M&S will go on being a great employer and paying at the top end, and being at the forefront of employee engagement.  We will do our very best to make sure that we get the very best staff, which means that we have to reward them appropriately.  

I cannot make commitments that I cannot promise to live up to. That would not be the M&S way. We can promise to pay at the top end, which is what we do, and we will continue to do that, as well as the other benefits that we give to employees.  We do that because they give great service and we want the very best.  I cannot promise the particular commitment you request, but I can promise that M&S will be amongst the very best employers in the UK. 

At M&S we’re committed to offering our customers great style and value – to do this we need to manufacture in a wide range of countries.

This includes the UK where we manufacture furniture, home furnishings (including things like pillows) and nearly half of our beauty range.

As Steve said at the AGM there will be UK opportunities within Jaeger which we’re looking forward to launching later this year.

We are not negative about our business. However, I accept that media reaction has been negative, and we might not have combated negative perceptions strongly enough, as we remain the largest clothing and home retailer according to market share.

Importantly, this Board will state it as it is, we are not going to try to varnish over figures that are disappointing. Our five-year business transformation plan is underway, and we know that, in five years’ time, we need to create a profitable, growing business for shareholders and employees.

The team has confidence in its ability to deliver on our plans, and we hope that what you have seen today at our AGM gives you an equal confidence in the improvements in quality and style that are the hallmarks of M&S.

We now use gelatine in very few deserts, and only for quality reasons. We use alternatives in most deserts. In yoghurts we only use gelatine in 3 products again for quality reasons and use alternatives like pectin (natural ingredient from apples) in all other products.

We plan to open about 250 stores over the next three years in our International business.  We have set out where our priority markets are located.  One of the issues with M&S over the past is that we have perhaps been too spread.  This Board has to focus on the areas where we think we can grow best in the immediate term. 

For the time being, I think you will find that our focus is on the countries in which we are, not necessarily in the countries in which we are not.

While we understand that the it could be advantageous for shareholders to know the date of the AGM in advance to aid with travel plans. As a matter of law, the Companies Act prescribes the Notice of Meeting requirements. Shareholders must be given notice at least 21 clear days before each meeting. Our AGMs are typically held during the second week of July each year; however, it is important to note that venue confirmation is harder to provide.

The company has only a very limited range of clothing for outdoor walking and rambling. The market for these goods is both growing and commands a high margin and one which the company could readily develop with quality products. Perhaps the marketing department could evaluate the proposition to supply clothing and boot wear.

This is a great point as walking has certainly been an important pastime over the last year and I want to assure you all forms of activewear are a focus for us as this is definitely a growth category.

Specifically, on walking we’ve been exploring walking leggings & trekking pants – both of which have been fully planned into ranges launching in the next year, we are also building on the success we have seen within Waterproof products.

For boots we’re launching a brand-new range of walking boots and shoes for Good Move (our activewear brand) in Autumn - these will be fully waterproof across leather and synthetic materials. We will also have a more trend led weather resistant offer in M&S Collection in Autumn - these will be water resistant across a variety of different ‘snow boot’ styles with quilting, faux fur and hiker lace detailing. Additionally, we’ve increased our wellie range following the success of product this year.

Thank you for your feedback. We’re glad you like our ‘Brands at M&S’.

We’re very confident in our womenswear team who sit under Maddy Evans – Maddy came in two years ago and has done some brilliant work on our hero categories – for example our denim offer goes from strength to strength.

The Board discussed style in womenswear during the live AGM, which can be found at 1:10:24 of the recording.

The rewards are currently focused on offers, events & experiences. The more Sparks you collect, the more benefits and rewards you will receive. Tiers are linked to spend & frequency. The more that you spend and interact, the more Sparks you will receive.

However, we understand that the points-to-prizes conversation is not adequate. Therefore, we are completely reviewing our Sparks offering, which will be completed shortly.

The Board discussed style in womenswear during the live AGM, which can be found at 1:10:24 of the recording.

In recent years we have refined our M&S in-house brand offer. We’re clear on brands – what they stand for and who they’re targeting. In womenswear we now have three clear sub-brands: Goodmove (our activewear brand launched in 2020 - now No~ for full prices sales in the market), Per Una and Autograph.

We see great value in our third-party brands; allowing us to stretch our customer appeal by age, style or price point. E.g. when we launched Nobody’s Child online last Autumn c.10% of buying customers were new to M&S womenswear.

There were two particular changes made.  Laura has taken on additional responsibility for all channels, working with Sacha, and the reason for that is very clear: you have to have one face on the customer. We have to be modern retailers – multichannel retailers. 

The other one, with Patrick taking on the International responsibility, is to give a very common view of the M&S brand across the whole of our International network. 

John Dixon, who runs our GM business, has operational performance of all of the P&L account, and the same is true of Steve Rowe in Food.  We have a very talented group of executives.  Alan Stewart has taken on the additional responsibility of property, which is part of our strategic landscape going forward. 

During that tragic weekend there were some 40 of our colleagues working at the site both day and night. We made significant donations of clothing and home products and a refrigerated trailer was sent to provide food and drink to the victims and support teams. Our people reacted in the same way to the Manchester bombing in May. We do not publicise the fact that we get involved in these types of activities but you will find that, whenever a tragedy like this occurs, there will likely be somebody there from M&S doing what they can to help.

We offer one of the best sizes offers in the market across womenswear and menswear and we keep our sizing and fit options under regular review.

Sizes are consistent when labelled ‘short’ or ‘petite’ but are based on styling. E.g., narrow style trousers are usually shorter, needing to hit the leg higher compared to a flared trouser for example.

Our new website launched at the end of February, so I think any glitch in January cannot be attributed to our new website.  Our Castle Donington e-commerce distribution centre has been rapidly building up.  The distribution centre is a 1 million sq ft automated warehouse, which is equivalent to 11 Wembley pitches, and the idea that you build a facility like that with no glitch is highly unlikely. Any problems that arise are dealt with. Very soon, 100% of our e-commerce will be handled out of Castle Donington. 

Jill McDonald brings first-class customer knowledge and great experience of running dynamic, high achieving teams. She has been the CEO of Halfords Group since 2015, and prior to this she was Chief Executive Officer UK and President of North-West Europe for McDonald's. She also spent 16 years of her career with British Airways plc, holding a number of senior marketing positions in the UK and overseas.

The Clothing & Home business is very large with a lot of complexity that needs to be managed, and we believe that Jill is the right person to do this.

We continue to build up our operation in Shanghai. We have made it clear that we are going to open two more flagship stores in different cities, and going to seek partners in China.  We are there for the very long term and it will be a step by step process.

Since Plan A was launched ten years ago we have worked hard to take action on waste and M&S has

been a zero waste to landfill business in the UK and ROI since 2012. We launched our new Plan A targets this year and have made a new bold goal to be a zero waste business in all that we do. The majority of our packaging is already recyclable and we have committed that all our packaging will be fully recyclable in the UK by 2022.

Employees are free to do as they wish.  However, we have a wonderful Business Involvement group, with more than 3,500 elected members who serve the interests of our staff.

We sympathise for those who had difficulty getting to the venue from Wembley Park this year. If we are here next year we will investigate what form of assistance we are able to provide.

We need the right people on the floor.  The work that we are doing to get the long-term and youth unemployed into our business and into the workforce is extraordinary.  This is something that Marc Bolland has been personally involved in.

This is something the Board has considered. In fact, we previously looked at holding an AGM in Leeds, where the business was founded, but were unable to secure a suitable venue. We will continue to consider alternative locations.

Steve Rowe has provided a written response to Global Justice Now’s letter on this subject, in which he explained that we advertise across the media outlets that are mostly widely read by our customers. The Board has considered the matter but has no current plans to change this approach.

This question was answered by the directors in the live AGM broadcast and can be found at 1:10:24 of the recording.

Core to our transformation is being more relevant, more often to our customers and that means delivering stylish great value product with broad appeal.

If we get our product right it can hit a sweet spot – perfectly fitting jeans are worn and loved by people of all ages, and we are focused on these big hero categories.

Our new Head of Product Operations, Technology and Plan A is leading work on function excellence and strategic direction in technology, to help ensure we deliver consistently good quality and well-made garments.

On delivering more relevant ranges – such as our active brand Goodmove – we sold 1.6m Goodmove items in 20/21 and no.1 in market for full price women’s activewear.

Do those responsible for marketing realise that the ever-growing number of snap sales, special offers and more and more discount days, which rapidly appear to be replacing regular, down-to-earth, reasonable pricing, is sapping the confidence of our customers who seek good-quality, fashionable merchandise?

The business is very focused on margin levels and fully recognises the brand impact of excessive promotions.

Over the last six years we have invested in the future, and virtually every part of the basic infrastructure of the company has been reviewed and aligned with our strategic priorities. This includes the creation of a modern distribution and logistics backbone and excellent digital, design and sourcing capabilities. The last six years have seen profound changes in the retail market and the wider economy and these will continue into the future. The Company has, and will continue, to meet these challenges.

We have made clear the changes being implemented within the business, making it a stronger, more capable company than it was.  There is work to do and we have a very clear plan.  We need to deliver on our investment, and we intend to do that.

The Board is committed to creating a sustainable business in the long term. When Steve became CEO last year he set out a series of questions to help provide a platform for growth. A number of actions have been tasked this year including focusing on the customer, our strategy around reduced promotions in Clothing & Home, the store estate strategy and focusing on a profitable franchise-based business in International. The Company has been through a significant transformation over the last seven years which we believe put it in the right position for future growth.

Selling food online is something that has been considered.  However, we will do it only when we think it is a profitable business for M&S, which, on the current basis, it is not.  However, it is kept under review because things may change. 

What makes M&S different in food is its specialness and innovation.  It is not just a comparison about branded products. Branded products are a very small part of our food offer.

The Board regularly considers succession planning and reviews the top 100-150 people in the business annually.  Succession planning is a key area of focus and is one of the CEO’s performance-related Key Performance Indicators.

In a business like M&S we need to have a mix of people from different backgrounds, with different experiences and different points of view. For this reason, you will see a mix of great internal talent and also those recruited from outside the business in the Executive Team.

The welfare of staff has been important to this company since 1884 when it started.  It affects everything that we do in the way that we think about the business. The Living Wage has been subject to rigorous debate by the Board on several occasions, and the topic will continue to be revisited. Our current position, however, is that we believe it is right to set our own hourly rates internally rather than relying on a figure calculated by a third party over which we have no control.

It was very encouraging in February to see that you raised your base pay rates for directly employed staff to £10 across the country and £11.25 in London, meeting the real Living Wage. However, subcontracted workers at M&S do not receive this. Accrediting as a Living Wage employer will ensure everyone working at M&S receives a wage calculated to ensure a decent standard of living.

You have expressed a desire to get closer to Living Wage accreditation so please provide an overview of the current pay rates for subcontracted workers and what steps you have taken to discuss this issue with third party contractors.

As you outlined, we invested ahead of the both the national and real living wage for colleagues earlier this year as they told us that a strong base rate of pay and knowing how much they are taking home each month is hugely important to them. Alongside wider benefits and a generous pension and colleague discount, we’re committed to making sure our colleagues are properly rewarded and looked after when working at M&S through one of the leading all-round reward offers in retail. Our supplier rates are set independently, and we work closely with them as part of our agreed global sourcing principles. Any supplier that works with us must always pay a fair wage and work towards the living wage and we keep this under constant review. Doing the right thing is a fundamental part of our values at M&S which is why it is important for us to retain the independence to set leading rates of pay for our colleagues and we look forward to discussing this in August when the company is already scheduled to meet with Shareaction.

The reason for showing only the most popular currencies was to allow for a larger font size, in direct response to feedback from customers who found the screens difficult to read. A new solution will be rolled out shortly whereby an alternating display will allow all 16 main currencies to be shown in a larger font

This is a very important point, seeing as nearly 70% of all merchandise ordered online is now collected in store rather than delivered to home. One of the reasons we put 3,000 additional staff in our stores was to assist customers with finding what they needed. We will take this point on board as we roll out our forthcoming store refurbishments. 

With recent celebration events like the Platinum Jubilee, Father’s Day and Wimbledon, coupled with a sunny summer ahead, we know customers are keen to try our selection of summer wines, gins and craft beers.

We have made improvements in availability both in terms of launch availability, which has increased from around 70% to 91%, and core merchandise availability, which has increased from the around 80% to well above 80%.

The implementation of GM4, the General Merchandise, Clothing and Home allocation system, has delivered significant benefits for our Buying departments as it works right from the principle of the critical path when we buy things, how much we buy, when they are due to arrive, all the way from the contracting and then the allocation into our stores.

This system is still bedding in and the team are focused on increasing the availability of our core lines to well above 90%

During the year the Company had over 700,000 individual conversations with customers to find out what they wanted from M&S, and changes such as this are a direct result of listening to our customers. We recognise that some of the changes we make may not be right for every customer every time. We are, however, much closer to our customers now than ever before. We will continue to listen and to change.

We recognise M&S’s ambition to be a leader in this area and your pledge to increase sales of healthier products to 50% by 2022. However, having reported a decline in healthier sales from 41% in 2017 to 38% in 2021, we are keen to hear how M&S has addressed the shortfall and if you are now on track to meet this target by December?

In addition, could you confirm publicly whether your Eat Well criteria, used to report on this commitment, is now directly aligned with the UK government’s HFSS definition?

This question was answered at 1:14:11

To address this, we have expanded our Eat Well range – which is now at 1,800 products. The Eat Well range has been developed by the nutrition team and looks at nutrient quality as well as fat, sugar, salt levels. In March we updated our guidelines to ensure that no product with an Eat Well logo is restricted by HFSS. One of Stuart’s first announcements as CEO was the Eat Well Play Well partnership with the Home Nations football teams to encourage healthy choices. This includes free fruit for kids in summer holidays. But Eat Well is just one part of our health strategy not the only part. One of our biggest ambitions is to sell more fruit and vegetables and in our Renewal stores, our produce participation is three times higher than any of our other stores because of its location at the front. We have also invested in price through our Remarksable range and are more competitive on some key fresh items than many of our competition.

Customers will see more competitive prices across 30% of the range by the end of the year to ensure our price points are sharper and that our products are no more expensive than our key competitors. In one part of the business we have performed exceptionally well, and in another part of the business, we have not performed as well as we should have done. The cash flow in this business is strong and the fact that we have included an additional dividend this year is a reflection of that.

We believe that a diverse board offers a broad diversity of skills experience and perspective which we have been building in recent years, with women now representing 50% of our non-executive directors, and 45% of the total Board for example. On ethnic diversity we remain in line with the Parker review target of at least one Board member from an ethnic minority background, but we recognise the importance of all diversity and know there is more to do. 

The information presented in the annual report is not disaggregated below the level of clothing & home and food. The reason we do not publish it separately is because you could start segmenting our business into so many different things. Breaking down things into parts is not necessarily in the long-term interests of the business. We have to be judged on our Clothing and Home Business or our Food business in totality.

We have been having hundreds of thousands of conversations with our customers and with our store assistants. They are the people who really understand what our customers want. We are not going on myths of what our customers may or may not want. We are going to listen to them to really understand what they want.

Healthy eating is part of our plans for growth and we have a number of interesting innovations that we are exploring at the moment, including plant-based solutions. Our Food and Plan A team would be happy to meet to discuss further.

The Trustee is aware of the current rises in inflation and continues to monitor how this affects the Scheme and its members. It must pay all members’ pensions in line with the Scheme Rules and so is unable to provide an increase higher than the maximum amounts.

The Trustee’s responsibility is to make sure that there is a sufficient amount in the Scheme’s assets long into the future and ensure pensions are paid to members who are currently in receipt of their pensions as well as members who have not yet retired. These limits allow the Trustee to predict how much money the Scheme needs to have set aside, protect the Scheme’s future financial health and security of members’ pensions and ensure that all members are treated fairly.

Whilst the Scheme is in a healthy financial position and the Trustee’s prudent investment strategy continues to protect and enhance the security of members’ pensions, it’s important to be aware that the current surplus does not mean there is too much money set aside. The value of the Scheme’s assets can go up or down over time and the assumptions used to work out the how much it needs to have set aside to pay all members’ pensions might change in the future too.

Thank you for the positive feedback. It really means a lot to us and it is much appreciated.

The trading statements, as opposed to the preliminary results and the half-year statement, are not checked by the auditors. This was our mistake and the thing that is crucial when mistakes are made is that you learn lessons. We have a Board meeting next week and we will learn what those lessons are.

A report in The Times a week or so back said that the new triumvirate heading up the company needs to get the share price up 25% by 2025. The current price is £1.40, so a 25% rise is a paltry £1.75. Our share price has been as high as £2.56 this current year. Getting to £1.75 in three years’ time is no great achievement for the huge bonus package on offer is it?

This is answered in the webcast at 40:53.

The Directors’ Long Term Incentive Plans are measured against a host of stretching metrics including Total Shareholder Return and ROCE as well as individual performance elements. This is scrutinised by auditors. In order for the directors to achieve a payout against LTIPs, they will have to create significantly more shareholder value than 25% share price from a base of £1.40.

It is a fantastic charity and has been at the heart of what we have done for many years. The Sparks programme has raised over £1 million in the period Sparks has been going. The amount of money raised is fantastic and we know it resonates with our customers and with our people.

Ocado doesn’t currently operate across the whole of the UK, so not all colleagues would be able to access the benefit.

At this stage, it is not affordable given large number of colleagues employed by M&S and relatively small size of Ocado Retail. 

We cannot promise that we will change venue but we will look into the shuttle service. We have provided this previously and it is not something we have shut our minds to.

We are exploring ways to bring our credit card and sparks scheme closer together, however, they are different schemes. Our credit cards are offered by M&S Bank. The M&S credit card offers customers M&S reward points on credit card spending. Sparks recognises more than just spend and goes beyond generic discounts to reward members with personalised, lifestyle enhancing benefits. In the nine months since we have launched it, about four and a half million people have joined the scheme, and as their spending habits evolve and we see more of that, we will make sure that we send the right emails. 

We are proud of the role we play in our local communities both through the service to customers and time committed by colleagues in helping those that need it most. This year, our charitable donations reached over £5.2m, and we fundraised more than £4m in donations from our customers, colleagues and partners. Our donations were made to our 35 Sparks charity partners, as well as to UNHCR and UNICEF in support of the crisis in Ukraine.

Through our partnership with Neighbourly, we do work at a local level with over 2000 community charities. This has been in place since 2015 and is focussed on food surplus redistribution. We agree there is more we can do and the Board alongside the ESG Committee continue to review key community initiatives in meetings, including as part of the sustainability strategy.

We committed to share buyback at the beginning of the year as part of our commitment to delivering returns to our shareholders. The share buyback did increase shareholder value, however the shareholder accretion would have been greater if the buyback had been done at a lower price. We have listened to our shareholders, including private shareholders, and we have now switched to a special dividend in light of the share price and our shareholders can now choose if they want to reinvest it in purchasing more shares.

This was answered on the webcast at 36:57.

As the market leader in lingerie with c35% share, we have one of the biggest size ranges on the High Street in our bras, ranging from an AA to H in cup size to ensure our customers can choose a bra that looks good and feels good. In our F+ range, we do offer wider straps to ensure maximum comfort, however we know not all our customers have the same preference in style, so we offer a choice of width across these ranges.

The £824.1m benefit surplus is an actuarial valuation based on requirements of the International Financial Reporting standards, these numbers can vary greatly year on year dependent on factors such as corporate bond yields. In February we announced the results of the triennial actuarial valuation which showed a small surplus of £204m. We have a good relationship with the pension trustees and have shared principles about taking a long term view of funding and together we are working to continually de-risk the investment strategy with a prudent view to maintaining a scheme surplus, which also benefits the business with a consistent, long term cash contribution enabling us to manage cash flow.

This question was answered in the webcast at 1:17:14.

Colleagues in store are always happy to help check your offers for you. The easiest and best experience for Sparks is digitally and via our App where all your offers will be in one place. Since relaunch we’ve grown Sparks from 7m to 15m customers, as more people recognise the benefits of using Sparks. This also enables us to personalise your Sparks offers, reflecting your favourites and what you choose to shop regularly and other offers we think you might like to ensure it really is the best experience you can have.

We have no current plans to open a store in the short term but Aldershot is one of the places we are looking to open a new store. We recognise it is a gap in the market for us but we want to make sure we get the right property. We want to make sure we get the right units with the right accessibility for our customers.

Our fitting rooms consist of individual lockable cubicles, typically managed by a colleague to provide assistance and ensure customers’ privacy. They are located within our womenswear and menswear departments and therefore are mainly used by customers of that gender, however in line with most other retailers we will generally allow people to use the fitting room they prefer, with our colleagues exercising discretion and common sense.

Over the last five years, the share prices of major food retailers have fallen by, respectively, 62%, 42% and 33%. This has been, as these share prices demonstrate, one of the most difficult times in retail. We accept our performance needs to improve, but the comparison needs to be balanced. We have set out the first phase of our plan to address the recovery and growth in our Clothing & Home business, as well as growing our food opportunity and a review of our cost base. Within Clothing & Home, we have improved availability, sharpened our price points and reshaped the structure of our Womenswear team. We have a lot more to do and will address the root causes of our issues throughout the year.

We’re focused on investing in our transformation and delivering long term value for shareholders. For this reason, we stopped running the voucher scheme for shareholders in 2020 but we know a number of shareholders are also Sparks customers and will regularly receive treats and rewards simply by shopping with Sparks. This is great for you and great for the business.

Our business is immeasurably stronger than it was. Essential work has been done to build our infrastructure and capabilities, particularly in support of the online and digital elements. We are a more capable company with significantly improved digital design and sourcing skills in Clothing & Home and industry leading performance and outstanding innovation in Food.

We regularly review the decibel levels in our stores and cafes – this is a key part of our new store development process and in ensuring our stores are accessible for all. A number of our stores also run sensory friendly hours regularly to support customers with sensory needs.

We have set out the first phase of our plan and addressed how we can better understand our customers and what M&S means to them. On Clothing & Home so far we've improved availability, sharpened our price points and reshaped the structure of our Womenswear team to better reflect the way our customers shop. We have a lot more to do, we will continue to lower prices, put emphasis on styling rather than catwalk trends and we will focus on innovations that are genuinely useful.

This question was answered in the webcast at 1:19:30.

We know that the clothing area is over spaced, and we are looking at getting this right. One example is Stevenage where our clothing space is 60,000 square feet and we’ve had a great response, so we’ve now implemented a model based on this going forward for Clothing. That gives us the opportunity to expand what we’ve already tested and trialled in the last four years, which is our ideal store size in Food - it’s 15,000 to 25,000 square feet.

We also have plans to upgrade our Food offering through our Food renewals programme where we have renewed over 45 stores so far to offer a bigger, fresher range in a modernised environment. We have a strong pipeline ahead and we want to go faster as part of our store rotation programme.   

Driving better availability is key to our success and we are taking steps to resolve it. We now have a new allocation and warehouse management system which is now fully deployed through the buying department. We are increasing the amount of core wardrobe essentials which will run throughout the season, which will allow us to drive availability and provide the right sizes to our customers. We have extended the range of fits in a number of areas to make sure we can accommodate more of the requirements of the customer base.

We really value the views of our shareholders which is why we are going to engage more going forward.

Since January our buying teams have met with more than 250,000 customers. We are absolutely focused on getting the garments right and have made a number of changes. Our autumn range is absolutely focused on wearable style, on great fabrics, on great fits, and products that flatter all of our customers. By talking more frequently to our customers through panels, focus groups and online feedback our womenswear team are clear on what our target customer wants.

We know how important service is and we are looking at how we can improve our use of technology and processes to free up more colleagues to serve customers. We continue to invest in store technology, for example ahead of Christmas when our stores are very busy, we allocated an extra c3,000 Honeywell devices to enable colleagues to access information on price and availability easily and answer questions for customers. We’ve also introduced additional queue busting payment options at over 200 Foodhalls across the UK with Pay With Me – where a colleague has a handheld device and is able to take full payment quickly and easily. This has also now been rolled out to fitting rooms, saving customers having to pay at till. This is in addition to our self-service options like Scan & Shop which is nationwide across all stores and over 1m customers have used so far, removing the need to pay at checkout.

The Board has spent a great deal of time thinking about this. We recognise that we have some of the best employees in the country. If you remember, I did not make any promises last year regarding full accreditation, but the one thing I can commit to is that we will go on being responsible and being leaders in this field, and we will continue to give thought to it because our people are the heart of our business. Without them we are nothing, and we recognise that.  We are in the middle of consulting with our employees on the proposed new rates of pay that are set above the current Living Wage. We are committed to an ongoing dialogue on the Living Wage, but as you can appreciate at this time we will not be committing to accreditation as part of these proposals.

At M&S we pride ourselves on having the best quality and freshest products for our customers to enjoy.  We also work really hard with our supplying partners to develop products that not only taste and look amazing but also offer great shelf life for our customers. 

We routinely benchmark our products against our competitors and evaluate our shelf-life vs theirs. Where there is a difference that cannot be explained by the addition of added preservatives (that we look to minimise) we take action and work to ensure we are improving the shelf life of our products.

We have made great progress in the areas like our Deli range, where we now use novel packaging technology to improve the shelf life of our products without the need for preservatives.    

We also have big plans to continue to modernise our logistics and systems, so we can even more effectively ensure we have the right product in the right place at the right time, to ensure that our customers are delighted by the length of shelf life they have on our products. There is plenty more for us to get after and this is a big focus for the food group to help reduce waste and further strengthen our position as number one for product quality.

Thank you, we are delighted and will pass on the great feedback. We’ve always found our people to be professional, positive and dedicated to our customers. Wherever they work they show huge pride in working for this unique business, they are what makes M&S genuinely special.

This was answered in the webcast at 53:14.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we took swift action and suspended deliveries of products to the market on 3rd March. However, we had a franchise arrangement and had to negotiate an exit with our licensee. FIBA operated 48 stores in Russia alongside flagship website and third-party website wildberries with 1200 colleagues and 10 stores with 250 colleagues in Ukraine. In May we confirmed a full exit from the market has been agreed and they are working to close down the remaining stores.

It is happening, and I can tell you that all of our non-executives are appraised. It is an annual process and every three years we carry out an external evaluation; this year (2015/16), it was an internal one. It is very stringent, in particular for the Chairman. You will see in our Annual Report that we set it out in quite a bit of detail, including where we think we are not doing as well as we could be. We are pretty self-critical, and I can tell you that the evaluation is rigorous. It is a very proper annual process.

This question was answered in the webcast at 1:02:03.

Our aim is to offer everyday products that are relevant to how our customers are living and working – at trusted value. To drive this, we have reshaped our ranges in response to customer feedback with options reduced by 20%, while we’ve backed our bestselling lines with confidence and depth to deliver growth in key categories. This includes Denim where we are number one market leaders and sold over 1.6m jeggings at the new £17.50 price point. Our Activewear Goodmove is now our biggest Womenswear in house brand worth £65m with top products like leggings selling 5000 each month. Alongside this our in-house brands are complemented by over c.40 ‘Brands at M&S’ partners helping give customers more reasons to shop at M&S.

This question is answered in the webcast at 47:23.

We recognise this is a complex issue and debate. Our aim is to take a science-based approach, where the consensus is that the correct choice is to use closed-loop plastic and encourage maximum use and reuse. We have phased out single-use carrier bags in favour of stronger 100% recycled bags as well as offering reusable tote bags. Where appropriate, we have replaced plastic product and bakery bags with widely recycled paper versions. Crucially, we want to encourage customers to use fewer bags and reuse the bags they already own. Paper has limitations for re-use especially in the UK.

Firstly, our condolences on the passing of your husband and we apologise for the lack of communication in this instance. As the contract holder of the M&S Credit Card your husband was the primary contact for Club Rewards benefits, with a nominated secondary cardholder also able to access these benefits. This means that once the credit card account of your husband was closed, the Club Rewards membership would also be cancelled. In this scenario, communications would not have been issued to as you didn’t hold a Club Rewards contract. While this is documented in the Club Rewards terms and conditions, we will of course look into how we can make this clearer to avoid this happening again in future.  

This question was answered in the webcast at 1:05:04.

We are proud to have remained number one in the market by customers on product quality, as rated independently by Yougov. To drive this, we need a global manufacturing base to offer great style and value, and to ensure we have the expertise and scale required to deliver on this. Where there is opportunity, we do source and work with suppliers in the UK, for example we continue to manufacture furniture and around half of our beauty range in the UK. Alongside this, Jaeger, which we acquired in 2021, also remains a great British brand and the team are currently running tests with the UK-based Fashion Enter - an award-winning social enterprise which is a centre of ethical garment manufacturing.

Our aim is to offer everyday products that are relevant to how our customers are living and working – at trusted value. To drive this, we have reshaped our ranges in response to customer feedback with options reduced by 20%, while we’ve backed our bestselling lines with confidence and depth to deliver growth in key categories. This includes Denim where we are number one market leaders and sold over 1.6m jeggings at the new £17.50 price point. Our Activewear Goodmove is now our biggest Womenswear in house brand worth £65m with top products like leggings selling 5000 each month. Alongside this, our in-house brands are complemented by over c.40 ‘Brands at M&S’ partners helping give customers more reasons to shop at M&S.

We constantly review our range and always use customer, financial and operational data to assess its effectiveness. As we see the economic landscape changing, we will adapt our range accordingly.

Details of our Board evaluation and performance is included in the full version of the Annual Report, which all shareholders are entitled to.  However, many elect to receive the much shorter ‘Performance Overview’ document as the full report runs to some 130 pages.  This information is also on our website.

We are very alive to the need to grow and be profitable and, in fact, our Indian business is growing very nicely and is a good business.  India is not one of our challenging countries.  In fact, we see really good opportunities, but we are going to be very measured in the way that we go about them and the Board has a lot of focus on that.

Wembley has given us first class facilities and a location to deliver our AGM for the past few years. However, we are consistently reviewing our options on where is best placed to hold the event for our shareholders and the company.

Unequivocally no.

We continue to focus on the quality and style of our GM ranges. We are on track to deliver GM margin growth of +150 to +200bps with ongoing sourcing initiatives during this gross margin improvement.

We have set out our capital allocation policy committing to a progressive dividend policy, broadly twice covered by earnings and returning any surplus cash to shareholders on a regular basis. We will be returning £150m of cash to shareholders through a share buyback programme, but we are not wedded to any particular method of returning capital to shareholders.  We will make that decision every time that we come to it, so if it is the right thing to do one year, it will not necessarily be the right way to do it another.

This question is answered in the webcast at 58:45.

As many shareholders will already know, M&S invested in Ocado Retail Ltd to combat this issue. Ocado delivers to around 79% of UK postcodes and is increasing capacity over the next few years with a new CFC in Bicester later this year and Luton next year. In addition, mands.com offers gifts, hampers, Christmas food to order, floral and wine, and we’ve just reintroduced sandwich platters because we were inundated with customers requesting these.

We now have greater confidence in our product and the amount of promotional activity we undertake is significantly less than it has been.  However, from time to time there will be exceptions to that.  May was an unseasonal month for retail as a whole, which meant the market was more promotional - we responded with our own activity to clear seasonal stock more effectively, rather than simply putting it into sale.

We always aim to offer great quality and value with our product pricing and we would not artificially inflate this.

We are able to commit to meet with Share Action and continue the debate.  We know that we pay very well in the market and have a strong benefits package, which results in high retention and lower turnover than that experienced by many of our competitors.

We work hard to build a strong relationship with our people, offering great career opportunities in addition to a strong remuneration package.

The answer is I do not think we will any more than we would set out the profits of a particular part of the UK.  In fact, the stores, whether in France or the Czech Republic, are served in much the same distribution way as they are in the UK.  We are acutely conscious of the need to make profits in our International business and for the performance of that business to improve.  What I can tell you is that we have no intention of deploying large amounts of shareholders’ capital in the pursuit of profits unless we are pretty sure of the return.

This was covered live and can be found in the AGM broadcast recording at 27:20

Our end goal is to transform and return M&S to sustainable profitable growth and ensure every decision and action we make is geared towards us achieving that. We are prioritising reinvesting back into the business this year so that we deliver long term value for shareholders. We are focused on upgrading technology systems, supply chains and addressing legacy store estate as key three areas, and then ensuring we have a robust balance sheet working towards metrics consistent with investment grade. The dividend will continue to remain under consideration in this context.

We have been very clear over a period of years that what we are about is building a long term, sustainable business.  Our dotcom platform saw a 38% increase in sales over the last quarter.  Last year, our dotcom platform was subject to a great deal of criticism, however we knew that it would take time to bed in and strongly believe that it was the right thing to do for this business over the long term. 

Likewise, the move away from 100 assorted warehouses around the country to a one million square foot automated warehouse at Castle Donington was also the right long term decision for the business.  Did it have an effect on last year’s profits?  Yes, it did.  Do I regret that?  No.  Do I regret that we could not have implemented it absolutely perfectly?  Of course I do.  I said at last year’s AGM that it was wishful thinking to imagine that a project of this complexity could be completed with no issues. 

We have to build a business for the long term, a business that is sustainable and on which we do not have to preform radical surgery every couple of years.

The effect of the share buyback is that it reduces the number of shares in issue.  The amount of money the Company pays out as a dividend can therefore be applied to fewer shares.  If you look at the discounted value of those dividends, it is a larger amount, so there is an economic point in a share buyback: assuming you do not sell your shares, you will own more of the company.

Yes, we are and we were, in fact, recent re-accredited with the BITC community mark.

What sets M&S apart is how much we is how much we get our employees involved in this.  It is absolutely a fundamental way of how our store staff are involved in their communities and in the work that they do.  For example, we raise huge amounts of money for a number of charities, including around £1.3 million for Macmillan, £700,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and about £1.3 million for local charities.  Thus, I am glad to say we are absolutely there and we are doing our bit, but with our people as well. 

Overall pay for leadership is competitive and benchmarked against wider peers. Stuart, Katie and Eoin together are a dynamic team with strong track records of delivery and been instrumental in the progress made so far in the business’ transformation. Their clear mandates and responsibilities, and the structure of the leadership team combines decisive leadership with freedom to act, and we are confident this is the right team and reward structure to take M&S through the next phase of transformation.

We publish details of our Board's pay in line with the remuneration reporting regulations, as we are required to, in a very open and transparent manner, which has been recognised externally as being of a very high standard.  We also provide details of how the Remuneration Committee takes employee pay into account when determining the Directors' remuneration.

Internally, we publish pay and benefits information for all levels of employees; however this would be too extensive to publish externally.

We have significantly invested in improving and upgrading quality and fit across Womenswear, whilst maintaining prices for our customers. 30% of our Womenswear fabrics have been upgraded in 2014/15. Our development team have undertaken a major project to ensure consistent fit across all our brands.  This has resulted in a near 50% reduction in customer complaints relating to fit.  We are also offering a wider choice of dress lengths, sleeve options and cuts to suit different silhouettes.

We are actively engaged on this issue and have offered to meet with key groups.  We will continue to listen and engage on this topic going forwards.

This was answered in the webcast at 1:06:55.

We're focused on making sure our offer is as competitive and relevant as it can be for customers - particularly in the current climate. Customers have always turned to M&S for trusted value, and we believe we are well positioned in the market. The actions we've taken in our transformation mean the business is more resilient. In Food, our quality perception is at its highest point in five years and value perception is ahead of the market. In the last three years we have invested £100m in our Remarksable range focusing on everyday products such as bread, milk or mince with perception change price points. In Clothing, we remain the market leader of value for money and quality and are laser focused on protecting value for money on product that matters most. Alongside this we continue to take action to maintain our offer through actions such as our lowering costs programme in Food, reducing option count to drive efficiencies and moving away from promotions to everyday trusted value in Clothing & Home.

We do think about things like the living wage a great deal on this Board.  We do not just talk about trying to do the right thing, we really do try to do it.  We want to lead the way in how we work with our employees and this does not solely relate to the amount of pay they receive.  Of course pay is important, but it is also in relation to the benefits they get, for example staff discounts and pensions, as well as things like flexibility.  Many members of staff say that it is flexibility for child care, for carers, for paternity leave, for maternity leave, for week-to-week or day-to-day flexibility that we try to help them with that is also really important. 

It is not just our employees.  Our Marks and Start campaign has been put in place to help thousands of unemployed people obtain employment.  Additionally, through our own efforts other companies have now joined in to a similar scheme, which we hope will get 50,000 unemployed young people back into work in the next two years. 

Availability is key and this issue is a key area of focus for the Board.  We are currently upgrading our merchandising systems, following which we will be a much more effective business.  Although availability is improving, we understand that there is more to be done.  The Food business has already been upgraded and its availability has seen significant improvement. 

This was answered in the webcast at 49:05.

Our strategy is not to leave the high street but to have the right store, in the right location with right features to serve today’s customer. We’ve said we are targeting a full line base of c.180 full line stores. We’ve also already completed over 45 renewals of our Foodhalls introducing bigger, fresher and more modern formats to these locations and we have a strong future pipeline ahead. Where it’s right we will invest in the most vibrant high streets. For example, in Oxford Street where we want to redevelop and invest or moving to the right location to serve our customers for example in Birmingham. We relocated from a high street store to the Bullring shopping centre into a new 67k sq ft full line store offering a strong modern experience.

This question was answered live and can be viewed in the webcast at 1:10:58.

M&S has strong relationships with its suppliers. There is a joint business plan with suppliers to ensure the supply chains remain resilient. No retailer is immune, but we benefit from longstanding supplier partnerships that help us be resilient. We are taking specific steps to support performance and offset inflation, for example in Clothing and Home by taking a more flexible approach to trading and our lowering cost programme in Food. We have made digital led efficiencies in stores and simplified ways of working and we are clear on the areas to address in the next phase to drive efficiencies in our systems, supply chain and stores.

In terms of quality and the product in store, in essence I think what shareholders are telling us is that they can see the strides that we are making with the business; bringing back in-house design, getting back our confidence in fashion, and getting quality and style back into the business. 

Our Autumn/Winter 14 and Spring/Summer 15 collections were well received by both the fashion press and our customers, who enjoyed our interpretations of key style trends. The fashion press also identified our Autograph suede skirt (£199) as being a highlight of the year.

For Autumn/Winter 15, our design team have utilised contemporary shapes and simple silhouettes, with luxurious fabrics and tonal colour palette, to create a confident collection that feels contemporary, yet is accessible for all age groups.

M&S is also working with the British Fashion Council in an exclusive partnership to celebrate British fashion, home grown talent and sustainability.

We have significantly invested in improving and upgrading quality across Womenswear, whilst maintaining prices for our customers. 30% of our Womenswear fabrics have been upgraded in 2014/15. On fit, our development team, which is unique to M&S, has undertaken a major project to ensure consistent fit across all our brands. This has resulted in a near 50% reduction in customer complaints across. We are also offering a wider choice of dress lengths, sleeve options and cuts to suit different silhouettes.

This question was answered at 43:24.

In September we reset our Plan A sustainability programme, with a singular focus on becoming a net zero Scope 3 business across our entire supply chain and products by 2040. We need to take urgent and immediate action to tackle this. Across our own operations, refrigeration linked emissions are down 72% against our 07 baseline and 96% of the electricity purchased for M&S stores, offices and warehouses worldwide is now from on-site generation or green tariff renewable sources, up from 86% last year.

However, the biggest carbon driver is supplier manufacture and customer use and we’re supporting suppliers to innovate in sustainable solutions. For example, our Farming with Nature programme where we work with 17 innovator farms to trial best ways to protect biodiversity. Additionally, we’re helping our customers live lower carbon lives, for example via incentivising Shwopping clothes, recycling with Sparks and entering the clothing rental market with Hirestreet. Nevertheless, we know we have more to do to reach our target and will continue to be focused on driving this across the business.

We would never redesign our estate to avoid a store that is producing really excellent returns, however over time we do have to reshape it.  This is not a question of reducing space, because we are not - we are keeping GM space level and will be opening around 250 new Simply Food stores over the next few years.  However, there will be instances where the dynamics of the neighbourhood have changed, which has an effect on people’s shopping habits, and our store configuration will need to change as a result.  We try very hard to minimise the impact on our staff and local communities when this occurs, but we cannot stay still and retain an absolutely intact store estate over time. 

We have addressed this through the introduction of the innovative new Payment Plus Scheme, an initiative which no other company has put in place, as we understand that our shareholders are our most loyal customers.  This scheme rewards shareholders for their investment in M&S, offering them to the opportunity to use some or all of their dividend payment to purchase credit on a ‘Shareholder Card’ at a discount of 10%.  This card can then be used in our stores in much the same way as a gift card.  The scheme aims to benefit all shareholders who shop with us, and is in addition to the range of vouchers that we send to shareholders in January.

This was answered live and can be viewed in the webcast at 24:45

We believe in the digital format as we are big advocates of shareholder democracy and want to make it as accessible as possible for private shareholders to contact the company.

Since we introduced digital AGMs, we’ve seen engagement treble with over 1660 shareholders participating last year versus 593 in 2019 at the last in person meeting in Wembley and importantly we are seeing a higher percentage of capital voted in the meetings since we introduced the digital format. It is also more geographically democratic allowing more shareholders to view and participate then would normally travel to a midweek meeting in London. We can also tackle more question topics by bringing together similar questions submitted digitally. We believe the digital format has proved a success and we are keeping it under review.