Marks & Spencer Regulatory News (MKS)

12 Apr 2005 07:00

Marks & Spencer Group PLC12 April 2005 Issued: Tuesday, 12 April 2005 QUARTER 4 TRADING STATEMENT 2004/05 UK Retail Sales for the 13 weeks to 2 April 2005 are shown below. Given that the2003/04 financial year was for a 53-week trading period, the figures have beenproduced both on a financial accounting basis and, to avoid distortion, on acomparable trading week basis. COMPARABLE TRADING WEEK BASIS Actual % on Last Year Like for Like % on Last Year -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- Q3 Q4 Full Year Q3 Q4* Full Year------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------Clothing -4.4 -3.4 -3.2------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------Home -25.2 -22.8 -21.3------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------Total Clothing &Home -7.2 -5.6 -5.3 -8.5 -6.7 -7.0------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------Food 1.6 1.2 2.3 -2.9 -3.0 -2.8------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------Total -3.6 -2.3 -2.0 -6.0 -4.9 -5.1------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING BASIS Actual % on Last Year Like for Like % on Last Year -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- Q3 Q4 Full Year Q3 Q4 Full Year------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------Clothing -3.1 -5.9 -3.1------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------Home -24.6 -24.8 -21.4------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------Total Clothing &Home -6.0 -8.0 -5.2 -7.4 -9.2 -7.0------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------Food 1.9 1.3 2.4 -2.5 -3.1 -2.6------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------Total -2.8 -3.7 -1.9 -5.3 -6.3 -5.1------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------* includes the impact of Easter and the mid-season sale. This is estimated tobe a benefit of 0.5% in both Food and Total Clothing & Home. While the trading environment remains difficult, we continue to focus ondelivering better quality, value and styling to our customers. Footfall andclothing volumes are up for the full year. Overall, Food sales are growing andmarket share has been maintained. While like-for-like Food sales in our majorcity centre stores have declined, sales at Simply Food and Food salesout-of-town remain strong. Our mid-season sale started as planned earlier than last year due to the timingof Easter. Stocks are clean. Stock control remains a key priority for thebusiness and total forward commitments are now over 30% down on last year. We now expect that profit before tax and exceptional items for 04/05 will be inthe range of £610-625m. Stuart Rose, Chief Executive said: "The trading environment continues to bedifficult. The Company is going through substantial change and we believe we aremaking progress tackling the underlying issues that we face." Guidance for 2005/06 is as follows: • Group capital expenditure for 2005/06 will be in the range of £300-350m. • The planned opening of new footage will add c1.2% to general merchandise and c3.3% to food, on a weighted average basis. • We are on-track to deliver £120m to the bought-in margin (and £140m for 06/07) as previously announced. • Operating costs, including logistics, are expected to increase by less than 1.0%. Cost savings are expected to offset underlying cost inflation, cost of annualised new footage and an anticipated c8% increase in rates (reflecting the five yearly step change in rateable valuations along with the annual increase in UBR). This guidance excludes a provision for bonus. • We expect profits from our financial services business for 05/06, including the income from our relationship with HSBC where systems transition and card replacement costs for chip and pin will depress profits in the short-term, to be around £15m. • The Group will give guidance on the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards on 24 May 2005. Statements made in this announcement that look forward in time or that expressmanagement's beliefs, expectations or estimates regarding future occurrences andprospects are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the UnitedStates federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect Marks &Spencer's current expectations concerning future events and actual results maydiffer materially from current expectations or historical results. Any suchforward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties,including failure by Marks & Spencer to predict accurately customer preferences;decline in the demand for products offered by Marks & Spencer; competitiveinfluences; changes in levels of store traffic or consumer spending habits;effectiveness of Marks & Spencer's brand awareness and marketing programmes;general economic conditions or a downturn in the retail or financial servicesindustries; acts of war or terrorism worldwide; work stoppages, slowdowns orstrikes; and changes in financial and equity markets. Contacts: Investor Relations:Amanda Mellor +44 (0) 20 8718 3604Sarah McGlyne +44 (0) 20 8718 1563 Corporate Press Office: +44 (0) 20 8718 1919 Investors & Analysts Conference Call:This will be hosted by Stuart Rose at 07.25 (GMT) on Tuesday 12 April 2005.Dial in number: +44 (0) 20 7162 0180 A recording of this call will be available until Tuesday 19 April 2005.Dial in number: +44 (0) 20 7031 4064Access Code: 654960 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange