M&S profits plunge 62pc amid sweeping store closure plans
That compared with profit after taxation of 117.1 million pounds a year earlier.
Quick guide Which Marks & Spencer stores are set close?
After-tax profit meanwhile came in 74.8 percent lower at £29.1 million. Comparable food sales were down 0.3 per cent. In the 10 months to Christmas, sales fell 11% and losses hit £123m.
Maureen Hinton, group retail research director at GlobalData, noted after dominating the United Kingdom clothing market for decades, M&S is "perilously close" to losing its status as the number one clothing retailer to Primark.
"Alongside relocations, conversions, downsizes and the introduction of concessions, these closures will radically reshape M&S's clothing and home space", the firm said.
"Where we have closed stores, we are seeing an encouraging number of customers moving to nearby stores. which is why we're continuing to transform our estate with pace", said Sacha Berendji, the company's director for retail, operations and property.
The retailer wants to move a third of its sales online and have bigger stores but fewer of them.
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As a result, the retailer says it is on the way to closing some 25% of its legacy clothing and home space, and expects a year-end space reduction of about 5% while gross margin is forecast to be +50 basis points, with the first half of the year adversely affected by currency and sale timing.
"Accelerated change in the business is therefore our only option", Chief Executive Steve Rowe told reporters.
"We have been clear about our plans to accelerate our store closure program and the action we must take to build a business with sustainable, profitable growth", an M&S spokesperson said. Various other issues need to be urgently addressed, including the supply chains in both Clothing & Home and in Food requiring significant upgrades, its online capability being behind the best of its competitors and its sluggish website.
Rowe said the food business had underperformed during the quarter as gaps on shelves were compounded by stiff price competition.
As part of the transformative programme, M&S plans to close down all the three of its Bayswater, Fleetwood Outlet and Newton Abbot Outlet by the end of this July.
New Look has debts of more than £1bn and has lost some of its credit insurance cover, which protects suppliers if a retailer goes bust.
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