Marks & Spencer Confirms Indian Expansion Plans At Full Year Results
New Delhi, 24 May 2011: Marks and Spencer Group PLC announced its Full Year Results for the 2010/11 financial year and provided an update on its Plan for 2010-2013.
The Group highlights included:
- Group revenue up 4.2% to £9.7bn*
- Group underlying profit before tax up 12.9% to £714.3m*
- International sales up 6.1% to £1bn; 49 new stores opened*
- More choice in stores through innovation
- Early progress against the three year plan
*All comparative numbers are stated on a 52 week basis.
Marks & Spencer also reiterated its International strategy, as set out in November 2010, to transform Marks & Spencer into an international, multi-channel retailer and reduce its dependency on the UK economic cycle.
As part of this strategy, Marks & Spencer is focussed on India and Shanghai as its key markets. Over the next 12 months Marks & Spencer will open 10 new stores in India, focussing on key cities such as Delhi.
Martin Jones, Chief Executive of Marks & Spencer Reliance India, said: "With a population of over 1.2 billion, India offers us an exciting opportunity to focus our business. Throughout the year, we've opened new bigger stores and now have 19 stores in India. This provides us with a strong platform to accelerate our growth here and we're delighted to confirm our plans to open a further 10 stores over the next year.
"To support our growth plans we've continued to increase our sourcing from local Indian suppliers, now at over 50%, which allows us to tailor more of our products for our customers in India."
Notes to Editors
Marks & Spencer Reliance India Pvt. Ltd. is the joint venture formed in April 2008 between Marks & Spencer and Reliance Retail. Marks & Spencer Reliance India operates 19 stores in India.
Marks & Spencer (M&S) is one of the UK's leading retailers, offering high quality, great value clothing, as well as home products and outstanding quality food. M&S employs over 76,000 people and has 705 UK stores and 361 international stores in 42 territories.
Reliance Retail Limited
Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited opened its first retail store in November 2006 and today operates over 1,000 stores in more than 85 cities, spanning 14 states and serving over 2.5 million customers every week.
