M&S profits fall by third
MARKS and Spencer today said half-year profits fell by a third after sales suffered in the toughest conditions to hit the retailer since the early 1990s.
The 34% decline in profits to £297.8m came after UK like-for-like sales slid 5.7% in the six months to September 27.
Executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose described trading during October as volatile and said the company remained cautious about the outlook for the remainder of its financial year.
Today’s profits figure is slightly better than the £290m expected in the City. M&S is forecast to report full-year profits of around £640m - a far cry from the previous year’s figure of more than £1bn.
Plans made for rescue
THE ROYAL Bank of Scotland today reported more credit crunch pain and an 8% drop in underlying earnings so far this year as it outlined plans for its £20bn Government-backed rescue.
The troubled bank said full year figures would be hit by rising bad debts and writedowns, which totalled £206m in the third quarter, on top of £5.9bn in the first half.
RBS is raising £5bn under the Government’s part-nationalisation scheme and is appealing for another £15bn from shareholders under a share placing, which is underwritten by the Government.
It said today a group-wide overhaul was under way and that it hoped to buy back the Government’s £5bn stake “as soon as it is prudent to do so”.
