Marsha'S New CEO, The First Quarter Sales Of Clothing

Marks&Spencer Group PLC (MKS.L) Martha

M&S first quarter

Sales accelerated, and the group blamed the cause.

The weak consumer confidence before the referendum, as well as the price cut of the established strategy and the reduction of sales promotion measures have weakened the consumption intention.

In the first 13 weeks as of July 2nd, the sales of same store sales of M&S and Marsha's clothing and home sector fell by 8.9%, not only far from the 5%-8% decline expected by the market, but also significantly declined compared with the 2.7% decline in the four quarter, the biggest decline in the past ten years.

Steve Rowe, chief executive officer, revealed 5 percentage points of the decrease in the analyst's conference call after the earnings report, because the group cut sales promotions and the annual summer sales promotion was postponed to July.

"We know that (product price reduction and sales reduction) behavior will lead to a decline in overall sales, but the group has seen encouraging early signs," Steve Rowe said in the quarterly report.

During the period, the group lowered the price of 1000 non food products, with an average decrease of 3%. Steve Rowe said that sales of these products had been growing strongly since then.

In addition, the number of promotions this year will be reduced from 9 times in previous years to 6 times, and will be further reduced to 4 next year.

In the first quarter of Steve Rowe4's replacement of Marc Bolland as chief executive, M&S Martha has recorded such unbearable sales data, which indicates that the challenges it faces are more difficult than ever before in the event of a historical event.

He pointed out in the quarterly report that it is still too early to quantify the impact of Europe.

In the first quarter, sales of M&S Marsha general food department store also recorded a 0.9% decline, the market expected decline of 0.2%, and the UK's same store sales fell 4.3% year-on-year.

The group pointed out that the Easter holidays this year had 0.5% and 0.8% negative effects on the food and clothing home sector respectively.

However, the net sales of the food sector and M&S.com grew by 4% and 0.5% respectively, partially offset the 8.3% decline in the net sales of clothing and home sectors, while the overall net sales in the UK dropped by 1.1%.

Fixed exchange rate international sales increased by 0.7%, the group's overall net sales increased by 0.2%; international sales increased by 6.1% according to the actual exchange rate, and the group's overall net sales increased by 1.3%.

The group maintains the current 2017 fiscal year's full year forecast.

M&S Martha is not the only victim in the current unstable environment.

According to data released by market research firm Kantar Worldpanel this week, sales of clothing, footwear and accessories in the UK fell 0.1% year-on-year in the 52 week before June 5th, the first decline since 2010.

At the time of the deadline, Marks&SpencerGroupPLC (MKS.L) shares fell by up to 2.6% to 286.5 pence on Thursday morning.

Due to the May fiscal year 2016 annual results, it warned that short-term sales and profits would be affected by the business revitalization plan, plus the confidence of former investors who shook off the EU referendum, which has fallen 34% in the past month and a half, and is now at its lowest level for seven years.

On the other hand, the US private equity giant Blackstone GroupLP (NYSE:BX) Blackstone Group announced that the 57 year old Marc Bolland will join in the middle of September as the head of European portfolio business.