Marks & Spencer says terror attacks will delay sale of US chains
Marks & Spencer says the sell-off of its US chains will be delayed following last week's terrorist attacks.
The company had hoped to announce the sale of Kings Super Market this month, and the disposal of Brooks Brothers in October.
A Marks & Spencer spokesman says both sales have now been put back.
However, the spokesman is confident the disposals will be completed by March, 2002, as originally planned.
M&S announced its decision to sell Brooks and Kings in March this year as part of its plan to return £2bn to shareholders.
One Brooks Brothers store in Liberty Plaza, New York, was badly damaged in last Tuesday's terror attack.
Last week, the Financial Times reported that M&S had whittled down the list of bidders for Brooks Brothers to four.
It said the remaining bidders are understood to be May Department Stores, Dickson Concepts, Tommy Hilfiger and Texas Pacific Group.
At noon, shares in M&S were down 1.2% or 3p at 238¼p in trading on the London Stock Exchange.
