‘We are not leaving city centres’, says Marks & Spencer boss

Bosses at Marks & Spencer have said they will not “leave city centres” amid criticism from shareholders over moving some stores to out-of-town developments.

It came as the retail giant announced plans to invest £38 million in major new high street stores in Bath and Bristol at its annual general meeting in west London.

The retailer has undergone a sweeping overhaul under chief executive Stuart Machin, and previous boss Steve Rowe , which saw the group shake up its store estate.

In 2019, the group launched 110 store closures as part of the plans, affecting a number of its longstanding high street shops.

The group’s bosses were asked whether they have “given up on the high street” at the AGM on Tuesday, amid concerns they are shifting increasingly towards retail parks.

Archie Norman , chairman of the business, said: “No, we haven’t given up on the high street.

“We have a very important store rotation programme but we are absolutely not trying to leave city centres – that has never been our intention.

“We do have some older stores that are hard and costly to maintain and run so we have to look at that.”

Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S, said the programme of closures, refurbishments and relocations follows a previous lack of necessary investment.

“Our store rotation is really a catch-up programme on the last 20 years as we have previously underinvested,” he said.

On Tuesday, the retailer confirmed that it is investing £17 million in a new store in the centre of Bath, and £21 million on a new flagship store in central Bristol.

It said these are expected to create around 150 jobs.

At the meeting, shareholders voted heavily in favour of the group’s pay deal for bosses, who have led M&S shares 45% higher over the past year.

Stuart Machin saw his pay jump by around £2 million to £4.7 million last year, on the back of a larger bonus and long-term share awards.

Outside the AGM in Paddington there was a protest by campaigners for Peta (People for the ethical treatment of animals), with a supporter dressed as an alpaca.

It came after M&S reversed its ban on alpaca wool and said it would introduce the Textile Exchange’s Responsible Alpaca Standard (RAS).

An M&S spokeswoman said: “We don’t have any alpaca yarn in our products but updated our policy last year after a careful review of the updated industry welfare standards reassured us that should we reintroduce it in the future, our strict animal welfare requirements would be met.”