The presentation of Marks and Spencer’s half-yearly results was
trailed as promising bad news, and there was some relish in reporting
it.
The press went beyond Sir Richard Greenbury’s partial explanation of the
bad news, which he termed as a general clothing-retail ’bloodbath’, with
the tabloids recruiting shoppers as expert witnesses to support a
picture of a retailer losing out on quality, style and presentation.
Efforts to turn the media’s attention to strategic investment as a
contributor to the profit slump were unsuccessful, and that argument was
weakened by the fact that expansion was put on hold. Revelations of loss
of market share and cutbacks at British suppliers all added to the
general embarrassment.
By the weekend, the issue of Greenbury’s successor had become the main
story as candidates for CEO made themselves known. It would be unfair to
claim that Sir Richard made excuses, but that was seen as part of the
problem - his frankness about failures with the products surprised some
journalists.
Evaluation and analysis by CARMA International.Cuttings supplied by the
Broadcast Monitoring Company. ’What The Papers Say’ can be found at:
www.carma.com.
