The M&S glow-up is starting to charm investors

{"text":[[{"start":3.4,"text":"M&S is setting its sights far beyond Percy Pig and work-friendly knitwear. The UK group said on Tuesday that it aims to become a retail heavyweight, doubling food sales to hover around that of supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, making its fashion business as profitable as H&M’s and grabbing a similar share of online clothes shopping to high street staple Next. Investors have scoffed at the retailer’s grand plans before; in this case, they seem to be on board."}],[{"start":30.68,"text":"After a fairly mediocre couple of decades and now three years under CEO Stuart Machin, M&S seems to have fixed its popularity problem. One of this year’s most unlikely Instagram stars is its food product developer Kathryn Turner, whose sneak peeks of foodie inventions have become viral hits. Its fashion, meanwhile, made its debut at London Fashion Week this year."}],[{"start":52.76,"text":"And in food at least, lower prices and larger stores have produced growth. Like-for-like sales rose almost 12 per cent in the first half, M&S reported last week. Analysts expect M&S’s UK food revenue over the next four years to be a cumulative £3.6bn higher than they did three months ago, according to Visible Alpha."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":73.48,"text":"Fashion is slower to make progress. In value terms, sales remain 1.7 per cent below their level two years ago. Even though some items are selling out, management claims, the division’s operating margin was 7.5 per cent in the first half of the year, down from over 11 per cent a few years ago. It has outlined plans to simplify its logistics and wield more bargaining power with suppliers."}],[{"start":97.18,"text":"In a sign that this recovery might be durable, M&S shares have climbed almost two-fifths so far this year — and notably, that’s not all because estimates of near-term earnings have risen. The company’s price-to-earnings multiple is up around a tenth so far this year, too, suggesting faster growth in future."}],[{"start":114.4,"text":"Previously, investors seemed happy to reward M&S for what it had achieved but less what lay ahead: over the past five years, even as earnings have grown and lifted the share price, its market multiple hasn’t budged. In response to the retailer setting out its stall, investors bid the shares up as much as 5 per cent on Tuesday, hitting a new decade high. Machin is serving up credibility as well as ambition."}],[{"start":142.45,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1794401107_2065.mp3"}