Marks & Spencer to cut 60 stores after profits plunge
Marks & Spencer has announced that it will have 60 fewer clothing and home stores within the next five years.
The retail giant will close up to 30 branches, while the other half will be turned into food stores.
It follows after reports of falling sales and profits over the last six months up to the end of September.
Pre-tax profits have plunged 88% to £21.5m, with bosses partly blaming pension charges for the dramatic drop.
M&S, which has more 300 full-range sites and nearly 600 Simply Food shops in the UK, is yet to name any of the branches which will be closed or transformed.
Chief executive Steve Rowe has said that M&S will open 200 new Simply Food shops as part of the shake-up.
Marks & Spencer opened a new branch in Havant earlier this year, with hundreds of people queueing up for the grand opening in July.