Marks & Spencer Plans Store Closures After Profit Drops

LONDON—Marks & Spencer Group PLC reported a 90% drop in half-year profit Monday as the British retailer said it is closing stores in 10 international markets and plans to close many of its clothing and home stores in the U.K.

M&S, a mainstay of the U.K. high street, reported net profit of £ 16.9 million ($20.96 million) for the six months to Oct. 1 compared with £ 172.7 million in the first half of last year as the company was weighed down by pensions costs. So-called underlying pretax profit, which strips out one-time charges, fell 19% to £ 231.1 million. Revenue edged up 0.9% to £ 4.99 billion.

The company said over the next five years it will close about 60 of its clothing and home stores in the U.K., but will continue to increase the number of food stores.

Separately, M&S will close 53 wholly-owned stores in 10 markets: China, France, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The company said it is starting consultation with about 2,100 employees as a result of this.

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 08, 2016 03:25 ET (08:25 GMT)

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