M&S Irish stores ‘performing well’
Announcing group first-half profits yesterday the retailer said its five Irish stores in Dublin and Cork have continued to perform well.
“The stores in the Republic of Ireland have performed ahead of last year and the performance of the first Simply Food store in Ireland has been encouraging,” the retailer said in a statement.
A separate breakdown of Irish sales was not released, but overall, M&S reported a 7.4% rise in first half profits to stg£311.5 million in the six months to September 27 from stg£290.1m a year earlier.
M&S boss Roger Holmes said that the warm summer weather had hit the group, with clothing and footwear sales up by only 2.5%.
The main driver of the growth was food sales, which were up 6.9% for the six-month period.
Separately yesterday, Associated British Foods said its Penneys and Primark shops in Ireland also saw full year sales and profit increases.
Penneys, which has over 110 shops in Ireland and Britain, reported a up 21% rise in profits to stg£87 million. Sales at Primark rose to stg£752m from stg£654m helped by sales of home furnishings.
The flagship Penneys store on Dublin’s Mary Street is currently undergoing a multi-million euro revamp and the group’s other new stores in Ireland are expected to open after Christmas.
Associated British Foods, whose brands also include Kingsmill and Silver Spoon sugar, reported a 10% rise in pre-tax profits to stg£473m for the year ending September 13 with group sales increasing by 8% to stg£4.9 billion.
The company said it is looking at further acquisitions.
There is mounting speculation that it will take over British discount retailer TJ Hughes and merge it with Penneys.
“We can grow organically, but to reach the full potential for this business we need to do acquisitions and we are confident that there will be acquisitions,” ABF chief executive Peter Jackson said yesterday.
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