M&S shares decline goes on

SHARES in Marks & Spencer Group, Britain’s largest clothes retailer, headed for their fifth annual decline in six years on concern that the revival set in train by chairman Luc Vandevelde at the beginning of 2000 may have stalled.

The London-based retailer’s shares fell 6.5 pence, or 2.3%, to 276 pence in London, extending their decline for 2003 to 12%. The stock has declined every year since 1997 with the exception of 2001, when it rose 94%.

Marks & Spencer is one of the British retailers that have cut prices during the Christmas holiday season in an effort to revive demand after consumer confidence fell to the lowest in eight months in November.