Marks and Spencer has released its half yearly results, with overall group revenue of £4,993.5m, up 0.9% on last year, but with statutory profit before tax at £25.1m, down 88.4% from last year, the decision has been taken to reduce the number of clothing and home stores.

Underlying pre-tax profits fell 18.6% to £231.3m in the six months to October 1, with basic earnings per share down 90.5% to 1p.

Lower clothing and home sales were blamed for the profit drop, and bosses outlined a five year plan to improve productivity of the estate by "repositioning" 25% of clothing and home space, a move which will cost around £50m per year for the first three years.

Half of the stores to be closed will be transformed into M&S Simply Food stores, part of the plans to open 200 new food outlets. The remaining 30 clothing and home stores will shut for good.

M&S ceo Steve Rowe said: “In May, we laid out a number of questions which we would answer as part of our strategic review.  We committed to creating a simpler business with customers at its heart, and taking action to start to recover our Clothing & Home business and continue to grow in Food.
“Our aim is to build a sustainable business which will delight our customers, provide a robust foundation for future growth and deliver value for our shareholders in the long term. We have made good progress on our plans and customers are already noticing a difference, particularly in Clothing & Home.

“In addition, we have made major steps towards fairer pay and pension arrangements, streamlined our senior management team and our plans to implement a simpler Head Office structure are well underway.

“We have now completed a forensic review of our estate both in the UK and in our International markets.  Over the next five years we will transform our UK estate with c.60 fewer Clothing & Home stores, whilst continuing to increase the number of our Simply Food stores. In the future, we will have more inspiring stores in places where customers want to shop that complement our growing digital offer.  

“Internationally, we propose to cease trading in ten loss making owned markets, but intend to continue to develop our presence through our strong franchise partners.

“These are tough decisions, but vital to building a future M&S that is simpler, more relevant, multi-channel and focused on delivering sustainable returns.”