Marks and Spencer in first profit fall in three years

Pre-tax profits for the year to the end of March were £658m, down 16% from the previous year's £781m.
Like-for-like sales in the UK, which measure sales in stores open for more than a year, were up 0.3% on last year.

The company said it was scaling back its three-year sales targets set in November 2010 and would be cutting investment in UK stores by £200m

Sales growth was planned to be between £1.5bn and £2.5bn by November 2013 but the target is now for growth of between £1.1bn and £1.7bn.

Marks and Spencer's chief executive, Marc Bolland, said doing business in the UK had got a lot harder since the target was set: "The UK trading environment has changed quite a bit in 18 months.

"It is not as great as it used to be when we expected higher GDP [gross domestic product] growth."
Marks and Spencer has 730 stores in the UK from which it makes the majority of sales and profits.Read More