Marks & Spencer Regulatory News (MKS)

18 Apr 2008 14:49

Marks & Spencer Group PLC18 April 2008 Issued: 18 April 2008 Marks and Spencer Group plc and Reliance Retail announce joint venture in India Marks and Spencer Group plc (Marks & Spencer) announces an agreement to enterinto a joint venture with Reliance Retail, part of the Reliance IndustriesGroup, with the goal of establishing Marks & Spencer as a major retail brand inIndia. Subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions, including thereceipt of approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board of theGovernment of India, Marks & Spencer will take a 51% interest in Marks andSpencer Reliance India Pvt Ltd(1) with Reliance Retail taking the remaining 49%. The value of the initial investment into the JV will be up to £29m (in cash orin kind) between the parties, with both parties agreeing to provide furtherfunding in the future. The new joint venture will have the right to operate Marks & Spencer stores inIndia selling items such as women's, men's and children's clothing as well ashomewares. It will aim to open at least 50 new stores in India over the nextfive years. It is envisaged that Planet Retail, Marks & Spencer's existingfranchise partner in India, will continue as a franchisee in respect of the 14existing franchise stores. This announcement is part of Marks & Spencer's plans to grow its internationalbusiness to 15-20 per cent of Group revenues within the next five years. Sir Stuart Rose, Chief Executive, Marks & Spencer said: "India is a very exciting opportunity for Marks & Spencer and a market wherethere is the potential for M&S to become a major retail brand. Reliance Retailis the ideal partner for us to accelerate our expansion and create theopportunity to open much bigger M&S stores. We have been very impressed by theirstrength in technology, logistics and property and the speed with which theyhave become a major player in India's retail scene." Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries said: "M&S is a very well respected brand globally. At Reliance, we have alwaysstrongly believed in the power of the Indian consumer market. We are excited topartner with M&S to combine Reliance's understanding of the Indian marketplace,and its traditional strengths in the areas such as technology, infrastructure,logistics and training with M&S's legendary retailing and product developmentcapabilities to deliver a delightful experience for Indian consumers." The Chief Executive Officer of Marks and Spencer Reliance India Pvt Ltd will beMr. Mark Ashman and Chief Financial Officer will be Mr. Jatin Luthra. Mr. Carl Leaver, Director of International Business, Marks & Spencer said: "There is already a strong demand for great quality, good value Marks & Spencerproducts in India. Partnering with Reliance Retail will enable us to accelerateour growth in this dynamic economy. We intend to open bigger stores, selling awider range of products at lower prices, including a growing number of productssourced from local suppliers. I would like to thank VP Sharma and the PlanetRetail team for their early vision in bringing Marks & Spencer to India and fortheir ongoing support." -Ends- Notes to editors (1) Marks and Spencer Reliance India Pvt Ltd is currently named Tapti TradingPrivate Limited. Marks & Spencer (M&S) is one of the UK's leading retailers, offering highquality, great value clothing, as well as home products and outstanding qualityfood. M&S employs over 75,000 people and has over 600 stores in the UK and over275 stores in 39 territories around the world. Marks & Spencer's total Grouprevenues for 2006/7 were £8.5bn. In November 2007 at its interim results, Marks& Spencer identified significant opportunities to grow its internationalbusiness under the leadership of Carl Leaver, its Director of InternationalBusiness, targeting a 15-20% contribution to its Group revenues within the nextfive years. At its third quarter sales update on 9 January, Marks & Spencerannounced sales in its international business were up 15.1% (13 weeks to 29December 2007). www.marksandspencer.com/thecompany. Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limitedopened its first retail store in November 2006 and today operates over 500stores in over 49 cities spanning over 3.5 million Sq ft. RRL is a multi-format retailer that operates Reliance Fresh - a neighbourhoodstore concept, Reliance Digital - a Consumer Durables and Information Technologyconcept, Reliance Mart - a Hyper Market concept, Reliance Trends - an apparelspecialty concept, Reliance Wellness - a health, wellness & beauty concept ,Reliance iStore- an Apple specialty store concept, Reliance Footprint -afootwear concept, Reliance Jewels - a jewellery concept, Reliance Time-Out- abooks, music & entertainment concept, Reliance Super- a Minimart concept andReliance AutoZone - an automotive specialty concept. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India's largest private sector company onall major financial parameters with turnover of Rs1,18,354 crore (US$ 27.23billion), cash profit of Rs17,678 crore (US$ 4.07 billion), net profit ofRs11,943 crore (US$ 2.75 billion) and net worth of Rs63, 967 crore (US$ 14.72billion) as of March 31, 2007. RILis the first and only private sector company from India to feature in theFortune Global 500 list of 'World's Largest Corporations' and ranks amongst theworld's Top 200 companies in terms of profits. RIL is amongst the 25 fastestclimbers ranked by Fortune. RIL also features in the Forbes Global list ofworld's 400 best big companies and in FT Global 500 list of world's largestcompanies. Contact details M&S Corporate Press Office: +44 (0)20 8718 1919Clair Foster +44 (0) 20 8718 8323 / 07748 147 851Dan Masser +44 (0) 20 8718 1967 /07826 905220Out of hours +44 (0) 20 8718 2000 M&S Press Office for Indian media: Meenakshi Sachdev Varma + 919 8105 12307(Good Relations India) M&S Investor Relations:Amanda Mellor +44 (0)20 8718 3604Majda Rainer +44 (0)20 8718 1563 Reliance Retail:Manu Kapoor +919 9676 49799 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange