Marks and Spencer MKS (LSE) surprised the British market earlier today with the announcement of a substantial drop in retail clothing and food sales. The well known retailer under the firm hand of Sir Stuart Rose, the company’s CEO and Chairman, saw its shares drop precipitously earlier today after the sales announcement. According to Grame Wearden who a story for the U.K.’s Guardian,

Shares in the group, Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, plunged by almost 25% to 240p today after it warned that profits will be hit by the slowdown in trading, which chief executive Sir Stuart Rose warned could last another two years. Analysts called the statement, which was rushed out this morning, a “significant profits warning”           

…. Today’s plunge puts M&S shares at their lowest level in four years, and wiped around £1bn off its market capitalisation. The company is now worth just over £4bn. Finance director Ian Dyson insisted that M&S is not planning to cut its dividend.

 Rose, Marks and Spencer’s golden boy (CEO), may actually find himself in some trouble now that sales have dropped so much. Last month, I wrote about the criticism the firm and its board received for making Rose the company’s chairman in direct conflict with the UK’s executive governance recommendations. Keep a close eye on Marks and Spencer and what might happen with Sir Stuart Rose.    For more: Reuters BBC  Times Online Financial Times

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Liberum Management Change. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.