What next for M&S?

Marks & Spencer's annual results included 6.1% like-for-like annual sales growth, improved market share and a 28% rise in pre-tax profits to just below 1998's record £1bn. That may fall short of a Tesco-like performance, said Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail, but it's an impressive recovery under CEO Stuart Rose putting M&S "firmly back at close to the pinnacle among retailers".

Rose "continues to pull off surprises", said Damian Reece in The Daily Telegraph. He's appointed Lastminute.com founder Martha Lane Fox as

non-executive director. This "coup" shows where M&S wants to go: "clever, young and with oodles of online experience", she could have stepped out of one of Rose's "aspirational adverts that have been so key to the retailer's revival".

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

More challenges ahead for M&S

The recovery is complete, but now the group faces the challenge of steady growth. M&S dubbed it "broadening the business", said Lombard in the FT, meaning both bigger out of town stores and smaller Simply Food outlets. Renewed international expansion after earlier retrenchment will see "more Taiwanese than Tynesiders in M&S underpants", while the M&S Direct website will build on its popularity. But the overseas strategy is still at an early stage, while a costly UK refurbishment programme takes place in an "anxious retail climate", as James Harding pointed out in The Times. Still, following the "most significant" high-street turnaround in recent years, there's "momentum in the business across the board" both at home and overseas.

MKS: 717p; 12m change 31%