Marks & Spencer is to spend £120m to £150m a year for each
of the next three years to revamp its
in-store trading, supply chain, and distribution systems.
Stuart Rose, Marks & Spencer's chairman, told the retailer's
annual general meeting today that the investment was needed to
position M&S for the future.
He said a key focus would be to grow online sales to £500m a
year by 2010. Online sales had grown 70% in the past year, and had
shown strong growth again in the first quarter, he said.
Rose said he expected trading conditions to remain tough for at
least two years. M&S would continue to refurbish its stores
despite this, and continue to cut input and operational costs.
The
expansion of online business was in addition to growing the
store space, especially overseas, as this was key to growing
profits, he said.
Ian Dyson, Marks & Spencer's financial director, said
profits had reached £1bn for the first time, on sales of £9bn.
Margins were under pressure, but despite debt rising to £3.1bn, the
balance sheet remained strong, and M&S was still able to raise
credit relatively cheaply.