Marks and Spencer announces full exit from Russia

LONDON: British clothing-to- food retailer Marks and Spencer announced on May 25 that they had a full exit from Russia after the country's invasion of Ukraine.

After halting product shipments to Russia at the beginning of March, Marks and Spencer decided to fully exit its Russian franchise run by Turkish conglomerate Fiba Group.

The exit, plus disruption to M&S operations in Ukraine, run also by franchisee Fiba, is costing the British company 31 million US $39 million, 36 million euros. Our Ukrainian business has been partially closed because of war impacts, and we are working with our partner to reopen as and when possible, the company added in a statement.

An M&S spokeswoman confirmed to the group that it will no longer be used in Russia. Marks and Spencer shut half of its stores in France last year as Brexit affected supplies of fresh and chilled products.

M&S said it had taken a charge of 10.3 million after the French shakeup.

Following Britain's formal exit from the EU at the beginning of 2021, it blamed the move on supply chain complexities.

The group swung back into profit during its last financial year, or 12 months to the start of April, according to M&S on Wednesday.

It was boosted by strong sales online in Britain and abroad.

M&S pointed out that there were hard to predict and unpredictable headwinds due to the ongoing fallout from the pandemic, as well as geopolitical and economic uncertainties.

Sales growth was hit by a cost-of-living crisis caused by soaring inflation, according to the company.

Steve Rowe's time as chief executive was ended by the update.

The group had already announced that he would step down after six years, making way for a new joint CEO team of current M&S executives Stuart Machin and Katie Bickerstaffe.