MARKS & Spencer boss Luc Vandevelde has admitted that the retailer made a mistake hanging on to a UK supply base when it was no longer competitive.
“We woke up too late to that reality,” he said in an interview with the Sunday Herald.
The company’s yearly figures are out on Tuesday and analysts are braced for disappointing news on sales of women’s clothing in the wake of the abrupt departure of Barry Morris as head of womenswear.
The performance is considered important as this side of the business contributed more than a quarter of total group sales in 1999-2000 and recent pre-tax profit expectations have been cut back to around the £465 million mark compared with £546m last time.
Richard Ratner, at Seymour Pierce, said he will be surprised if the group makes much more than £440m in profit.
This article was published in the Sunday Herald on 20 May 2001