Boost in M&S profits sees staff granted bonuses
Marks & Spencer staff are today reported to be in line to scoop bonuses of up to £1,250 (€1,827) each as the group looks to share the success of an expected 28% leap in profits.
The resurgent retailer is understood to be announcing that staff will share a record £90m (€131.6m) bonus pot when it unveils its full year figures on Tuesday, according to a report in The Sunday Times.
Around 72,000 employees at the group are believed to be netting payouts thanks to what analysts are predicting was a profitable year for M&S.
The group is forecast to report a pre-tax profits haul for the year to April 1 of around £960m (€1.4bn), up by more than a quarter on the previous year's £751.4m (€1.1bn) and nearly back to the levels seen before M&S hit its trading blackspot in the late 1990s.
The expected £90m (€131.6m) windfall pot would be a substantial rise on the £73m (€106.7m) handed out last year to staff and is thought to be one of the largest bonus payouts from the food to fashion group.
Employees could on average bank bonuses of more than £1,000 (€1,462), although the £90m (€131.6m) pot will also be shared between management.
M&S, which declined to comment ahead of its results, has been leading an intensive recovery programme under the steer of chief executive Stuart Rose, who was hired to lead the turnaround in 2004.
The group reported profits of just £145.5m (€131.59m) in 2001 as once loyal customers shunned the store, but M&S has seen sales soar in the past two years and the chain report its sixth successive quarter of growth at the start of the year.
Mr Rose has been leading a programme of store refurbishments and has overseen an image makeover, helped by the hiring of stars such as supermodel Twiggy and Shirely Bassey to front advertising campaigns.
Analysts have questioned the chief executive's ability to maintain the growth, although he has been quick to show the firm is not complacent.
Last year he stressed the retailer still had "much to do" despite unveiling a 35% hike in annual profits and said the improved performance at M&S would not amount to a recovery unless profits and sales were still growing at Christmas.
