Marks and Spencer Group plc

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Marks & Spencer is a British multinational retailer headquartered in London, that specialises in selling clothing, home products and luxury food products; the UK accounts for 89.8% of net sales. M&S has 1,463 stores, with 1,035 located across the UK.(Mar.2018) Since 2015, the company has been closing stores in an attempt to combat the general malaise afflicting high street retailing.[1]

Sales break down as follows:

  • 54.9%: Food products;
  • 34.9%: Clothes, hygiene products, and household items.
  • 10.2%: International distribution activities

M&S Bank

M&S Bank is a UK retail bank, providing a range of banking, credit and insurance products to personal customers, with some branches within M&S stores, as well as stand-alone ones. It also provides internet banking services. The company was initially formed as a financial services division in 1985, adding personal loans in 1989, and home and contents insurance in 2000. Marks & Spencer Financial Services plc was born in 2002, trading as M&S Money; credit card services were added in 2003.

M&S Bank was sold to HSBC Bank plc in Nov.2004,[2] which uses the M&S brand under licence from Marks & Spencer.[3] It became M&S Bank in 2012, opening stand-alone branches, and offering current accounts. Mortgages were introduced in 2018.

M&S Energy

Company

Shareholders

Total float: 99.3%
Source: MarketScreener.svg, Mar.2020

Plastic Packaging

  • Jan.16.2019: M&S to start selling loose fruit and veg in shift away from plastic. Marks & Spencer is to start selling more than 90 lines of loose fruit and vegetables free of all plastic packaging, in a trial that will put the traditional greengrocer back on the shop floor and revive the use of paper bags. As part of the trial M&S has also removed best before date labels from fresh fruit and veg. Rebecca Smithers, The Guardian.
  • Dec.15.2018: Waitrose to ban glitter from own-brand products by 2020. Waitrose says it will find other ways to make products sparkle in effort to stem plastic waste. Most glitter is made from etched aluminium bonded to polyethylene terephthalate – a form of microplastic that can find its way into the oceans. Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer is introducing a biodegradable alternative to glitter across its fresh flowers and plant range. It could be in use as early as January after a successful trial. Rebecca Smithers, The Guardian.
  • Jan.14.2018: What are supermarkets doing to fight plastic? Plastic waste is "one of the great environmental scourges of our time". These are the words of Prime Minister Theresa May, who has pledged to ban all avoidable plastic waste in the UK by 2042. Despite extending the 5p charge on single-use plastic bags, major retailers in England still sold 2.1bn in the last financial year. But organisations like Greenpeace UK are sceptical about the plan, citing Mrs May's "vague aspirations". So what are Britain's 10 biggest supermarkets doing to combat the "scourge" of plastic? Marks & Spencer says that more than 90% of all its UK packaging is recyclable, and less than 1% (by weight) of all its packaging can be traced back to polystyrene. It has trialled new materials to replace its black CPET (a type of plastic) packaging, and the foils in packaging for biscuits and crisps. Between 2007-2012 it reduced its total packaging by 25%, and between 2012 and 2014, its food packaging usage per item decreased by 10%. It is also looking at using plastics made from plant-based oils. BBC News.

Timelines

ToDo:
  • Aug.2020: Jobs: plans to cut 7,000 jobs in shops and head offices were announced.[4]

Jaeger

Jaeger-2013.svg
Jaeger is an English fashion brand and retailer of menswear and womenswear. Founded in 1884 as "Dr Jaeger's Sanitary Woolen System Co Ltd", its first London West End store opened the following year. Explorers Ernest ShackletonWikipedia-W.svg and Robert Falcon ScottWikipedia-W.svg made the brand famous when they took Jaeger clothing, blankets and boots on their expeditions;[5] Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe wore the clothes. Today, the once-famous clothing manufacturer with its flagship Regent Street store has been reduced to a mere fashion brand.

  • Jan.2021: Marks and Spencer Group plc bought Jaeger out of administration, but purchased only Jaeger’s intellectual property, allowing it to sell Jaeger-branded goods on its website as a 3rd-party brand.[6] The deal excluded the remaining 63 stores; questions about employees were ducked.[7]
  • Nov.2020: Jaeger fell into administration after Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group failed to find a buyer. A week later, 103 jobs were axed and 13 stores closed, leaving it with 63 shops and concessions, and 244 staff.[8]In Jul.2020, Jaeger Holdings Ltd, established in Dec.1883, was dissolved.OpenCorporates-sm.svg
  • Apr.2017: Jaeger entered administration. A group of suppliers owed £millions tried to mount a rescue bid, but could not buy the business because the rights to use the name had already been sold.[9] Administrators closed ~20 of its 46 stores, making 200+ staff redundant, and remained in charge of the core business and remaining staff. Industry sources believed that Philip Daywas waiting in the wings to acquire a restructured business, free of debt.[10]
  • Mar.2017:
    EWM-Edinburgh-Woollen-Mill.svgDeals-All-Change.svg
    The Edinburgh Woollen Mill (Group) Ltd,OpenCorporates-sm.svg owned by Dubai-based Philip DayWikipedia-W.svg, acquired the Jaeger brand and debt, but not the main company, leaving the future looking very bleak for Jaeger’s 700 employees and payments for suppliers.[10]
  • Apr.2012: Better Capital PCC Ltd, a Guernsey-based private equity firm controlled by Jon MoultonWikipedia-W.svg, bought Jaeger Group Ltd (90%) from Harold Tillman, who retained a 10% stake.[11]
  • Mar.2003: Harold TillmanWikipedia-W.svg, chairman of suit manufacturer BMB Clothing Ltd, bought Jaeger Holdings from Richard Thompson.[12]
  • Jan.2003: Coats plc sold Jaeger to Richard ThompsonWikipedia-W.svg's SPV Riverhawk Investments LtdOpenCorporates-sm.svg for £1.[13] The deal included 117 retail outlets, 230 concessions and 50 overseas franchised shops. Coats retained various Jaeger assets, including the long-term lease on its flagship Regent Street store with a view to selling it, and the brand’s USA business, looking to find a purchaser for the business as a going concern.[14]
  • ... ...
  • 1930s: Jaeger changed its emphasis from life-enhancing underwear to fashion. A Regent street shop was opened in 1935, and Jaeger concessions were established within department stores such as Selfridges to sell Jaeger range of coordinates.[15][16]
  • 1914: Jaeger Co Ltd: At the start of WWI, the company changed its name from Dr Jaeger's Sanitary Woollen System Co Ltd.
  • 1910: Jaeger was awarded a Royal Warrant to supply to King Edward VII stables.[15]
  • Feb.1884: Dr Jaeger’s Sanitary Woolen System Co. Ltd: Tomalin established the first Jaeger shop in Fore Street, Moorgate, London, with the London West End branch opening in 1885 at Princes Street, London W1.[15]
  • 1881: Lewis RS Tomalin, a Putney-dwelling grocer's accountant, published a translation of "Health Culture", a book by German zoologist Dr Gustav Jaeger, which detailed the benefits of clothing made from natural fibres including merino wool, alpaca, and cashmere.[17] The book's reception was sometimes one of mockery.[18]
Additional Sources: Records of Coats Viyella plc, thread manufacturers, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland University of Glasgow Archives Services, 1830-2002.

Articles

References

  1. ^ M&S online food delivery service will be no piece of cake. BBC News, Apr.28.2017.
  2. ^ Full Company Accounts, to Dec.31.2004. Marks & Spencer Financial Services plc, Companies House, Mar.10.2005.
  3. ^ M&S Bank legal information. Marks & Spencer Financial Services plc M&S Bank. Accessed Nov.08.2018.
  4. ^ M&S to cut 7,000 jobs. Richard Fletcher, The Times, Aug.18.2020.
  5. ^ Jaeger: Historical Timeline. Jaeger.co.uk, Jan.2009. Original archived on Nov.23.2009.
  6. ^ M&S rescues Jaeger from administration but stores set to close. Elias Jahshan, Retail Gazette, Jan.12.2021.
  7. ^ Marks & Spencer buys Jaeger fashion brand from administrators. Jasper Jolly, The Guardian, Jan.11.2021.
  8. ^ Peacocks and Jaeger enter administration. Adam McCulloch, Personnel Today, Nov.19.2020.
  9. ^ Edinburgh Woollen Mill acquires Jaeger brand in plan for new chain. Sarah Butler, The Guardian, May.28.2017.
  10. ^ a b Jaeger going out of fashion puts 700 jobs at risk. Zoe Wood, The Guardian, Apr.07.2017.
  11. ^ Better Capital buys fashion brand Jaeger in £19.5m deal. James Thompson, The Independent, Apr.17.2012.
  12. ^ Harold Tillman, the British clothing and textile entrepreneur, has purchased Jaeger for an undisclosed sum, confirming a report in WWD on Monday. Women's Wear Daily, Mar.11.2003. Original archived on Jan.26.2021.
  13. ^ Entrepreneur poised to bag Jaeger for nominal price. Andrew Cave, The Telegraph, Jan.23.2003.    
  14. ^ Coats sells clothing brands to ex QPR chairman. Sarah Butler, The Times, Jan.24.2003.
  15. ^ a b c Jaeger and Co Ltd. City of Westminster Archives Centre, The National Archives. Accessed Jan.26.2021.
  16. ^ Mencyclopaedia: Jaeger. Luke Leitch, The Telegraph, Nov.11.2011.
  17. ^ Scientific Gossip. Prof. Jaeger would have everything worn by mankind made from sheep's wool, which must be either white or dyed with harmless chemical colors, no aniline colors being permissible. [...] The New York Times, Jul.27.1884.
  18. ^ Wool. [...] There is certainly an opportunity for some other German scientific person to set up a feather theory in opposition to Dr Jaeger's wool theory, and to insist that men should wear nothing but feathers. [...] The New York Times, Oct.16.1884.