Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS) FY18 Results: Exceptional Costs Hit Profits; Only on “Mile Three or Four of a Marathon”

Executive Summary

• Marks & Spencer (M&S) reported a 38% fall in operating profit and a 62% slump in pretax profit in FY18. The declines were largely due to costs related to store closures.
• Food segment comps were down 0.3% for FY18 and Clothing and Home comps were down 1.9%, with both segments seeing declines deepen in the final quarter.
• CEO Steve Rowe likened the plan to turn around M&S to a marathon in which the company is currently “only about three or four miles in.”