Marks & Spencer has not yet attained a turnaround of its clothing and home business yet. Significantly more action is needed to bring these back on track. Hard work in improving products has not been backed up by infrastructure improvements. The retailer suffered problems with planning and stock visibility, resulting in some empty shelves. M&S is overhauling its men’s wear collections, reducing the proportion of suits in its men’s wear stock to reflect contemporary customers.

But there are some positive signs in the brand’s digital and food arm. M&S will boost its food business through the transformation plan by working to lower costs and modernise its supply chain.

In the year M&S opened 37 stores and modernised a further 56. Where M&S made progress in pruning options and introducing slimmer fits and more mid sizes, the customer response was very strong. For instance, its new denim launch produced an initial 20 per cent sales uplift and sales of women’s jeggings were up 30 per cent. During the year, M&S implemented the market right pricing program across markets. The program’s cumulative performance since implementation was encouraging with sales up eight per cent and volumes up 20 per cent, following a net ten per cent reduction in selling prices. This performance is helping to build confidence with its partners to reinvest into the business.