M&S boss Steve Rowe refuses to rule out further store closures

Marks & Spencer’s chief executive Steve Rowe has refused to rule out further store closures as the company faces “probably the biggest turnaround in UK retail” amid sliding sales. Speaking at the retailer’s annual general meeting (AGM), Rowe said the brand would have to “take tough decisions if it’s going to survive”. The department store chain has already announced that 100 stores will close as part of a sweeping five-year transformation programme which aims to address a long-term decline in clothes sales. The Times adds that in his first address as chairman at the retailer’s AGM, Archie Norman gave his version of the “unvarnished truth” about M&S, telling shareholders that the company “did not have a God-given right to exist”. Norman, 64, said: “I have been on a voyage of discovery [since joining M&S last September] . . . and myself and the board are under no illusion that this business has a burning platform. Unless we change in the decades to come there could be no M&S.” Click here for the full Telegraph article (£) Click here for the full Guardian article Click here for the full Times article (£)