Good day, and welcome to the Marks & Spencer Analyst Call. This meeting is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to hand the call over to Archie Norman. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi, good morning, everybody, and welcome to the call. It's Archie here. I'm here with Stuart, Jeremy, Alex Boyd, and the whole team in the room. Look, you know, it's a good set of results, and I would say to Stuart, when you've got strong results, say less, because there's nothing to stop him. He wanted, he wants to introduce the meeting, and there are a few words to say, and then we'll take the questions.
Good morning, everyone. As ever, thank you, Archie. But before we go to questions, I just wanted to lay out a few things about how I see the results, where I think we are as an organization, and importantly, as we look ahead to the future. And as you've seen this morning, our profits are a little better than we expected. Resilient customer demand has provided a favorable backdrop, but also our strategy has also enabled us to deliver growth, importantly, volume growth. We've sold more product and served more customers across food and clothing home, and both businesses are now outperforming the market. To touch on food, we outperformed all supermarkets, and you will have seen, yet again, yesterday's market share data, which shows us outperform the market again on volume and value quite significantly.
So I think the work that Alex and the team are doing on quality and on value is really paying off. You should also be reminded, of course, that within the half year, we did have a benefit from the Gist contribution of nearly GBP 33 million. That means our overall food margin, therefore, was around 4.3%. In Clothing & Home, I think Richard and the team are really getting into their rhythm. I've spent quite a bit of time looking at ranging and going through supply chain and value, and Richard, Maddy, Mitch, and the rest of the team, have really started to push our style credentials with increased confidence. But also remaining laser focused on how we're restructuring the clothing business, and then laser focused on the key areas of quality and value.
And as a result, in clothing and home, our perception metrics have improved. There's also good work in the clothing and home supply chain. In fact, we had a benefit through efficiencies of supply chain of GBP 30 million in clothing and home, which means our first-year margin is 12.1%. Then just on cash, Jeremy and I are very focused on the three financial statements. We talk a lot, the P&L, the balance sheet, and the cash flow. And I have to say, I've learned a lot in my first 60+ months as CEO with Jeremy's support. We've implemented very clear hurdle rates, targeted strong paybacks on the big strategic programs that we need to invest in, and those programs I set out a year ago haven't changed.
Store rotation, supply chain in both businesses, and we're pretty focused on data, digital and IT, but we know we've got quite a lot of work to do in that area. As I said in May, we're on a journey. We have a clear plan, but it's not just what we say. We are very focused on what we say and what we're doing. And this afternoon's Capital Markets Day is very focused on, we said this a year ago, this is what we've done. And as you know, the Capital Markets Day is this afternoon at Waterside House. So I think in summary, we remain positively dissatisfied. Again, one of my colleagues said, "You're not going to use that word, those two words again." And I said, "Yes," because actually being positively dissatisfied is a positive thing.
It means, you know, we're positive about the progress and the work we are doing to drive and reshape M&S. But we have to be dissatisfied because there is so much opportunity, and not everything goes right every day, of course. So we're focused on always aiming higher, and that's one of our new behaviors in our business. So we're pleased with progress, but I do just want to say, in many ways, in my mind, this is just the beginning. You've seen from our outlook that we have trading momentum through October and, and customers are responding well, especially on our Christmas ranges already, whether that's food or clothing. But we don't want to overpromise in the next six months. Something I'm very wary of, I don't want to overpromise and underdeliver.
We know there's so much in our control, but we also know there's quite a bit of uncertainty as we think about the second half. So my summary is: we're on track, lots has been achieved, there's lots still to do, but there's lots of opportunity ahead of us. So I will hand over the questions.
Right. I'm going to take some questions.
Yes.
Because we're all meeting this afternoon, so we can cover everything again then. But who want to... Clive, let's have Clive Black. Actually, Clive, I can't see you on the list, but I'm sure you've got a question. You had a great headline this morning, so.
Can you hear me, Archie?
We can hear you loud and clear.
Good stuff. Well, obviously, well done to you all. Stuart, you said there that,
... Just the beginning. And in the analyst video this morning, Archie talked about being in the foothills of what the business can achieve. I just wonder if you both can characterize just some meaning to that, frankly, given where the company's come from in the last six or seven years. And then just a second one, if I may, building on your wish not to overpromise, Stuart. Last year, you talked about an aspiration of 10%+ clothing margins and 4% food. I mean, you have smashed that in the first half. Maybe just tell us why something closer to 10% should be considered more normal, given what you've just achieved. Thank you.
Hi, thank you. I'll start, Jeremy can chip in as well, but very good questions. I think just on first, when I say just the beginning, I won't go through all of our programs, but we'll discuss those at the session this afternoon. But when you look at those programs and you're working through the actions every day, you actually look at the progress, but you're very more focused on what's left to do. So whether that's products, whether that's property, store rotation, I mean, it dawned on me, looking at the store rotation numbers in our last property committee, that we've only actually got 92 renewal stores. All of those are performing way ahead of our expectations. And we just opened yesterday, Bullring, Birmingham, third less space, 30% more sales.
Liverpool, from the old store to the new store, 30% less space, 30+ percent more sales across both clothing, home, and food. And you've only got to then think, well, imagine if we had 180 new format stores or include the 400 food stores. What an opportunity! We have to look at our supply chain. We've only just acquired Gist a year ago, and the good news is we've delivered GBP 60 million of benefits in that 12 months, and all credit to Alex and the focus on the team. But the hard work now begins. We have to redo our whole network, automation, new sites, less sites, et cetera, ambient chilled capacity. The work and the growth opportunity in Ocado, that hasn't even started quite. I'm excited really on Ocado, but not really next year.
I'm probably thinking Ocado is a 3+ year, maybe five-year significant opportunity. There are just a few things. My last example, data, digital technology. We know we've done some good work. We're trying to think about online, clothing at home, the app, how to make it more personalized. Sparks, the loyalty program, or an M&S club, or whatever you want to call it. Actually, we haven't made as much progress in the last 12 months in that area as we would have liked. My summary of just the beginning is we're on track, and we're very laser focused on what we said, what's in our plan, and how we executed it. But you've only got to work through the detail and you realize the opportunity ahead of us, and that's what actually is exciting.
On your second point about margin, quite rightly, and I'm not changing this afternoon those targets. You'll notice I put a greater than in front of it, but actually, we think the economics stack up very well if we really focus on driving sales volume across both our businesses, clothing, home, beauty, and food, and we want to be a volume retailer. And therefore, we think a healthy operating margin is around slightly higher than 10% for clothing, home, and the same for food. I think that gives us room for investment. And yet where our performance has paid off is where we've invested in quality and we've invested in value. And it's also important to note in the first half, there have been some one-offs.
So, for example, the Gist, GBP 30 million in H1 and the, or, or more heavily weighted, should I say, to the first half and the GBP 30 million supply chain costs in clothing and home. Our overall cost reduction program, the GBP 115 million, GBP 150 million for the year-
Yeah.
100 of that was in H1.
Yeah.
And of course, we had GBP 25 million of benefit in interest charges based on our bond buyback. So there's also some reasons why H1 is slightly better for that. Jeremy?
Yeah, Kai, just picking up on some of those points that you just made. First of all, the 10% is a full year margin, and the margin in clothing homes is tending to be higher in the first half than the second half. We do tend to have more markdown, particularly when we get into Q4. So there's a seasonal aspect to it. Just building on some of the things Stuart said as well. In the second half, we've had some tailwinds from FX in the first half. FX actually moved against us in the second half, at an implied dollar rate of 1.30 last year versus 1.18 this year. So that's going to move against us.
And then just one of the things we flagged, H1 on H2, but it will affect both Clothing, Home and Food margins. Given the strong performance in the first half, we are looking to accelerate some of the investments in the business that we probably had planned for next year, around maintaining the stores and getting ahead of the game on some of our IT infrastructure, and that will suppress margins in both businesses in the second half as well. So, so that 12%, we're very pleased with it, but, but second half, that should, should be, should come down a bit.
Okay, thanks, Simon. Let's move on. We've got a few questions pending. Get Jonathan Pritchard from Peel Hunt.
Morning, all, and well done. Just start on value perception. You mentioned it in passing in the presentation. Has the pace of improvement of value perception accelerated? You're investing a lot, I think 500 products have been improved. Would that suggest that actually the sort of quality versus price interplay is getting better in customers' eyes at a rapid rate? Secondly, a quick one on part-
Let's just take that, Jonathan. Let's take that, take that question because we
Okay.
Otherwise, we'll forget the second one. We'll come back to it.
Yeah, no, I think, Jonathan, hi, Stuart. Look, it's a, it's a good question and a good point. Actually, our value perception in clothing has always been strong. We've always been the number one on value perception. But what's quite surprising, but we're pleased about, is customers have really noticed the improvement in style. We've always been one for quality and value in clothing and home, but style has gone up considerably. In womenswear, our style perception has gone up 5% just in 18 months. And by the way, I think well deserved by Maggie and the team. And menswear, I'm not surprised, it's been checked and verified that I am the number one menswear shopper in M&S. But menswear style perception has gone up 7% in the last 18 months.
So the reason I start with that is value has always been strong in clothing, and that's been actually growing year-on-year, but we've also improved style. In food, it's very similar. I think the work the team has done, obviously, we really started our investment and price program nearly four years ago now. But Alex has been very focused on the remarkable program, quality M&S products at a supermarket equivalent price. And actually, that program, 200 lines, have increased nearly 50% year-on-year, and price lots of 150 lines, has actually gone up 40% year-on-year. And therefore, no surprise, the value perception in food is stronger now than it has ever been.
Yes, everything on perception is going in the right direction, and I think it is because we, it isn't just about price, it's the price you pay for the quality. Although I'm very challenging constantly on our quality, whether it's clothing, home or food, and I'm constantly challenging our value position, our customers have definitely noticed, and it's resonating.
Okay, Jonathan, next question.
Well, feel free to kick these into the afternoon slot if you want to. But will we see more small sort of partner impact into stores like Jaeger at Colney, for example, will we see a bit more of that? And then lastly, just on Sparks, you have touched on it, what can we expect from that in the next 12 months?
Good, very good questions, Jonathan. Look, I, I can't really comment on the brands in stores. They will be probably more rollout of our brands, so whether it's the Autograph, Jaeger, we're very encouraged by the work actually the team are doing on Jaeger. It's under Maggie, as womenswear, and I think we're narrowing the range, but absolutely going back to the core heritage of Jaeger, and I dare say Maggie will have strong plans for that. Autograph, since the soft relaunch, Autograph sales are already up double digit as well in the last few months. Per Una as well, up 20% on the year. So I, I think there's an opportunity to not just look at those brands, but ranging, and ranging is top of mind for Richard.
On Sparks, the reason this is a good question is, I mean, it's quite remarkable we've got nearly 18 million customers on Sparks. Our opportunity is we only have 5 million active Sparks members, i.e., that use their card once or twice a month. The other thing is we have some trials on Sparks, where we have 20% of our customers having a more personalized Sparks experience. Now, I'm slightly dubious because I've been asking to be part of this program, and I'm not yet. So we really, I really want to know what this is. I've seen it, but we know in the team we've got work to do.
But why we're quite excited is if you can imagine 18 million people, if we can start really getting our data in shape, really driving more personal experience, and, and I will touch on this this afternoon, by the way, then this is such a big opportunity. There is another small thing that's on my mind on Sparks. We talk about the average customer, whether it's demographics, age, et cetera. But actually, when I walk in our stores, especially in city centers, and I'm looking at the customers on womenswear or menswear, we are attracting a younger customer. Now, they're not going to sign up for a Sparks program or a Sparks card unless it's really relevant to them. So we've got lots of work still on this, but it could be a big unlocker in the future.
Okay, thanks, Jonathan. We're going to cover a lot of this this afternoon, so it's probably best we can try and focus on the results in this session, otherwise, we'll steal Stuart's thunder before they join. Anyway, so we have David Roon from Bank of America, and then we go to Richard James.
Yeah, morning, gents. Thanks for taking the questions, and well done on the results. Just on the gross margin, there's a lot of kind of moving parts to it. But as you look into FY 2025, I mean, should we expect a tailwind from freight and FX? And I've just got two more questions. I don't know if you wanna go ahead with that first.
Well, let me touch on that, David, and Jeremy as well, talk about FX, et c. I mean, on margin, if I think about food, first of all, I mean, our gross margin was up slightly, but actually we got benefits from logistics of about 0.3%, retail costs and other proxy costs and a saving in central costs, so that's all part of our cost restructuring program. So that really, if you add all that up, that's why the food operating margin went from 2.2 to 4.3. I think the most important thing for the food business is maintaining the volume of sales growth.
And that's why even though Christmas, we're pretty confident the early signs of Christmas are strong, and I do hope every single one of you on the call are shopping with us this Christmas for food and for clothing at home. But we're slightly worried about what January will look like, because although customers are planning for a good Christmas, January, there's a few question marks about some of the challenges they're facing. And although our customers are more cushioned than other retailers, we're just mindful. So what's key for Alex and his team is really continuation on the strategy of volume, and that was through quality and value. We still think it will also, the logistics savings will continue to flow in the second half.
When we think about clothing, I mean clothing, on their operating margin, obviously went from 6.9 last year to 9%. Sorry, 12, 12% this year. Now, stores were a big improvement. Stores went from 11%-13.5%. Online, we normally get a higher margin in H1 than we do in H2. Now, that is what I think the challenge is, because our online margin in the first half was 7%, sorry, last year was 7%, this year, 9%. And normally, in the second half, history tells us that margin is diluted, mainly because of sale, et cetera. But that is where I think our opportunity is for future years.
Yeah. Thanks, Chair. Just focusing on the dynamic on growth margin in clothing at home a bit, David, there are lots of moving parts. Some of the benefit in the first half this year is price increases that went through first half last year. We actually haven't taken any price increases since then. So as that flows its way through, we're not planning to take prices, price increases either in H2, there will be some reduction in gross margin as some inflation flows through. Freight is a tailwind. FX, as I've just said to Clive, becomes a headwind in the second half. Actually, if you flow into 2025, FX should work in our benefit, but obviously, FX moves around a bit.
But at the moment, based on current FX rates, we would get the benefit from that, and obviously then we'd have to put our pricing accordingly as we head into 2025. So lots of moving parts, quite hard to call, and quite a mixture of headwinds and tailwinds and all that.
Great, that's very clear. And then, my last two questions are just bundled together. They're quite, quite straightforward. How should we think about the dividend payout ratio looking forward? And then the second one is just on the Ocado Retail JV. I see there are some levers to adjust the performance targets under certain circumstances, and I'm just wondering if there's any chance of that happening.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. Yeah, Jeremy, go ahead.
Yeah, so on the dividend, we've announced a nominal dividend. Our priority is on investing in the business, and we'll talk about that this afternoon. We're looking to get an investment-grade credit rating. We need to think about our pension scheme, but dividends are important. They're tangible definition realization of shareholder returns. So it's a nominal dividend, 1p at the interim, and on 132p base basis, it'll be roughly 3p for the year. So that's the approach to the dividend. On Ocado, you'll see in the accounts the our position is, it would appear that the Ocado retail business isn't going to hit the number it needs to do to achieve the contingent consideration. And on the back of that, it's been written down to zero.
There is the provision in the contract for adjustments to be made, and Ocado may argue in due course that the numbers should be adjusted, which could mean that the target is hit. But for the moment, we're not aware of any such adjustments, so we've written it down to zero.
Thanks very much.
Okay. He said...
He said Richard next.
Yes. We'll have Richard Chamberlain, and then we'll go to Warwick.
Yeah, thanks, guys. Morning, everyone, and well done again on the strong first half results. Just for a couple from me, please. How should we think about. On the food side, how should we think about the food space contribution for the second half in view of the recent sort of ramp up of store openings? That's the first one. And then the second-
Yeah, let me take that one. Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah.
But I'll touch on it. I mean, look, in H2, we've got plenty openings. It's not a significant change of space. I mean, it will feel small in the grand scheme of things. There are two new openings, nine store closures, six renewals. So all of those, of course, food, and by the end of H2, we'll have 108 new format stores. I mean, what I would say on some of the big stores, Lakeside Barrett and Trafford Centre, pretty big stores, and the food performance will be very strong there. And if I think about the stores we've just opened, opening yesterday, as I said, a third less space overall with 30% more sales, same as Liverpool One, by the way.
I mean, it won't make a significant material change to the numbers, but over time, it will. It will be a key growth factor for the business.
Got it. Thank you. And my other one was on the working capital outlook for the second half. I wondered if Jeremy or somebody, you know, if you could run through the drivers there, I guess the closing tables changing.
Yeah.
Yeah, so we—Thank you. Richard, we're still targeting a GBP 50 million outflow for the year. If you remember, we had a pretty strong inflow at the year-end last year-end, and I talked to some of that dephasing. Some of the variables in there, we've got too much stock in India and looking to get that down, which should help. We do have Easter in food coming at the year end, and that creates actually a working capital drain just in terms of the build-up, so that should be a phasing issue, obviously. And you're right, on clothing and home suppliers, payment days moved up during COVID, and we are looking to bring that down to 75 from 90 over time.
So, that is part of the reason for that outflow in the end.
Got it. Very helpful. Thank you.
Again, thanks, Richard. And I'll go to Warwick Okines, and then Kate Calvert from HSBC. Warwick.
Thanks, actually. Morning, everyone. Yeah, just back on the store renewals. You talked about some of those renewals and the sales uplift, and I think on the video, you said Victoria Cardinal Place was quite a long way ahead of your plan, as well as obviously higher than before. Could you talk about some of the dynamics that drive those uplifts, you know, customer traffic, baskets, and perhaps also whether you're experiencing any unplanned cannibalization in adjacent stores?
Yeah, I'll keep it high level, Warwick. We can cover a bit more detail if I get a few numbers later for you. But I mean, funny enough, I just had a message from the team at Cardinal Place saying, "We love the video. Thank you for calling our store out." And they've just sent me a video for themselves this morning. But the reason I mentioned that just in Cardinal Place, but also our other stores, if we think about food, first of all, I mean, it's quite amazing. If I go back now nearly five years, our first renewal store at Clapham is actually Battersea, but St. John's Road in SW11. That store was 100 years old, an old-time store with clothing and food. Food at the back, clothing at the front.
And that store was doing around GBP 200,000 a week, and we were going to close it. In fact, I still remember the day where we were sort of arguing about opening or, or closing or keeping it, and I was determined it was going to be a food store. In fact, Archie got me the number of the landlord, and it was Will from Baniel, and I met him, and within the space of two weeks, we agreed to keep the store. I got a bit of paper out and scrawled on a piece of paper what I thought the store should look like, and two months later, Sacha and I are knocking down the store, building a new food store. I mean, that food store, every year has been in double-digit growth.
Year one, 25%, year two, 20-something%, year three, 18%, et cetera, and five years on, continues to perform. There are a few things. The first is the shopping experience in those renewal stores, as you know, is quite different. The first is we focus on the, what Alex calls the spine of the basket. So produce features more heavily, as does fresh meat and poultry, and that is helping drive a slightly bigger basket. It's also helping our customers do a full shop with us in those stores. But that leads to more range, because more range is helping drive those baskets. Our basket in renewal stores, over 30, 30-pound baskets are actually up always around 20%, and range is really important.
I think what does remain core to the food strategy is we are still going to focus overwhelmingly on M&S. We've got some gaps in the range. Alex has identified a couple of thousand SKUs that he wants to introduce over time, but we can't see these stores being as big as supermarkets. We want to be very tight on space, return on space, and therefore those larger stores will be about 20-25, and on average, 15,000 sq ft. So the summary is range is really driving a big difference. If we think about some of the renewal stores where we've just added that range and made the store a better environment, whether it's Cardinal Place, which has performed extremely well, and a few of our shareholders and investors and analysts shop there, thank you for that.
But also other stores like York. Center store traded 20% up when we renewed that as well. So all renewals are in line with the business case, all actually exceeding. There isn't one that isn't exceeding the uplifts we expect. And I should just mention on clothing and home, where it's a food question, when we rightsize clothing, and we get a better layout and a better edited range, like in Cardinal Place, clothing sales not only go up but have a halo effect from food. So in Cardinal Place, although we reduced clothing by around 6,000 sq ft-7,000 sq ft, sales went up 30%. So there's a lot of good metrics going in the right direction when it comes to store renewal, and paybacks are good.
Thank you for that. If I may, the second question is, I think you also said that you expect to see - just thinking about clothing and home online, I think you said you expect to see a stronger online growth performance over the next 12 months. Any particular reasons for that? I imagine you see some of the last 6 months as a sort of normalization of traffic to store, but any particular reason why you think online will re-accelerate?
Well, I, I think this is more based on, I don't really think 6 months, but I do think over 12 and beyond, I don't think we should change our strategy. Our target was always right-size clothing, reduce our clothing footprint, target 180 flagship stores for the homeware clothing home feature, and right-size space at around 60,000 sq ft as a maximum. And when it comes to online, where we see the opportunity is, one, we underperform in real key categories. So we have high share in womenswear, but actually, we see some of those categories underperforming online at the moment. Menswear, when we think about menswear, we have a big opportunity. We have 9.2% of the menswear market. But online, we're 4.9%. If we think about lingerie, we have nearly 30% market share.
Online, we're only 20, and so the story goes on. Womenswear, 9.5% market share in stores, but actually online, it's just 4.5%. So why I'm very focused on this online bit, and as is Richard, is I keep identifying the opportunities in categories that absolutely gives you opportunities to drive online growth in the future. And the last point online is we need to do a much better job when it comes to the app experience and personalization. And we've talked about it for a few years, and we've really got to get some momentum behind that program, and that will deliver medium-term, I think, growth online. And we'll go right there and go back to that last step, because I think people underestimate; in the last year, we've seen a continued resurgence of return to stores.
This is obviously beneficial for us. We're store located, less online competition. The result is online has been subdued, and people talk about it a lot less. We don't think that's a long-term trend. We think that's an interruption to a trend. So we do expect that online, with us, and market-wide, and our own business, to revert to stronger growth, whether it's the next six months or the next 12 months, it's going to resume the same. Now, look, we're not getting through that many questions, quite a few people waiting, so let's try and keep it clipped. Should we go to Kate Calvert and then Andrew Trudeau? Thanks. Kate?
Morning, everyone. Just to say, I love the Clapham Food store. So two questions for me. First, in clothing and home, your full price mix was up to 82%. Given your sort of positive dissatisfaction, I mean, what is the ideal level of full price sales, and how much further can you push it? And in terms of my second question, could you just talk about the level of disruption costs, pre-opening costs year-on-year, from the store relocation strategy? Was it sort of higher or lower? And should we be looking for this to increase over the next two years if you're going to contract the program? Thank you.
Gosh, Kate, that second question was the big one. I'm looking at Jeremy, and he's on that. Let's first thank you for shopping at Clapham. I hope you're doing Christmas shop, and please email me any feedback. On your full price point, our full price mix was 82%. I mean, last year actually was quite high at 81, and pre-COVID, of course, it was in the 60s. So the team has done a good job, three years in a row, over 80% full price. It's hard to put a number on it, but I'll tell you the few things that are on our minds, for myself, but also for Richard, mainly. The first thing, I do like the clarity of first price, right price.
You know, we want to be the most trusted retailer, and that means, you know, promotions don't really feature the best product for the best price. And the other key thing that Richard is really focused on with his team is maximizing the full price sales and reducing the amount of markdowns going into sale. Now, there are a few contentious issues. I would like us to get out of sale in half the time. So instead of all of January, which I think would just be awful to see a whole month of sale, I would love a two-week sale. And I know Richard is listening into this call, and I know he's very focused on how we're going to reduce the amount of sale, maybe get out of it quick, quicker. So I think mid-eighties and to high eighties will be a good long-term number.
There's just a few things still on trusted value and sale that we want to work through.
I can tell you categorically, Kate, that I don't have an answer for your second question. I can say that in some of our renewals, we look to keep the store open. So I know in Cardinal Place, Victoria, we have looked to work with the store and manage the renewal while we've got the store open. On the relocations, and we were up in Liverpool earlier in the year and Birmingham open this week, we'll tend to keep the old store open right until the last minute and then reopen. So I don't think the cost of pre-empting costs, certainly in terms of closure costs, will be significant. But we'll come back to you in terms of impact. We'll do a bit of analysis on that and get back to you.
Okay.
Great, thanks very much.
Get our figures for something. Yeah. Okay. Anything more from you, Kate?
That's it. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Okay, we'll go to Anne Greensboro then, and then I might get James Stanford here.
Thank you. Morning, all. I've got two questions, please. The first one, has there been any increase in shrinkage, in either business? And then the second one on the experience of markdown rate in the third-party brands where you said on a wholesale basis. Thanks a lot.
Thank you, Anne. I mean, firstly, on shrinkage, I mean, actually, food was slightly favorable, and we've done a lot of work on shrink. So there's no real standout concerns. But firstly, then Alex has done a lot of good work. Steaks was a classic example that we know is a target category. And on steaks, we repositioned the offer, standardized the sizes. In fact, one of Alex's first ideas was fixed pricing on steaks, and that has worked very well for customers, very well for, very well for sales and has reduced the loss. We've also relooked at how we lay out our stores. It's a real small detail, but having steak at the end of the aisle opposite the checkout helps a lot, rather than in the aisle or hidden. And we've done a lot of work on process, stock accuracy.
What that means is we can target any areas where we've had missing stock. I should also say the acquisition of Gist has helped us because we've been able to be clearer on our end-to-end stock flow and stock holding, and that helps with accuracy. So really, no big standouts for us when it comes to shrink. Your second question, I sort of forgot already. What was it? Third party brands or something? I forgot.
Yeah, so I mean, you talked about the full price percentage across clothing and home. Just wondered what it was for the third party brands, specifically on the wholesale basis.
I actually haven't got that on me, Anne, apologies. I think we'll come back to you. I can't really remember, but we will come back.
Thank you.
I don't think there's an issue on third party brands.
No, I-
The only thing you find, it's slightly more complex with third party brands, is the return rates.
Yeah.
Partly because there's a lot of areas where you can return.
No, I'm worried about it. I just don't know the specific number on it. And we'll come back to you on it, actually.
Okay, let's have James Stanford, and then we'll get a couple more, and then got loads of time this afternoon, so we'll call all of those after. Hi, James.
Morning. two questions, please. So firstly, if I interpreted your comments earlier rightly, it sounds as if progress in Home is lagging the improvement you've made in clothing. I wonder if you can talk a little bit about the size of the opportunity and what are the major things you need to do to execute on that? And then perhaps one for Jeremy. I don't know if you can narrow down at all your comments on PBT guidance for the year ahead. I mean, one way of looking at it would be, given some of the greater headwinds in the second half, do you think it's realistic to get PBT growth H2 on H2? Thank you.
James, thank you. I mean, it's right for you to pick up Home. It's funny because as I reflect, it's not like you actually rehearse what you're going to say, but naturally, Home, rolls off the tongue because I do think this is an opportunity for us. And I know Richard agrees. There's a couple of things. We've had some strong performance in Home, by the way. You know, bedding was up 10%, for example, and I do think if we really focus on the key hero categories that we're famous for, like bedding and bath, for example, maybe kitchen to some extent. If we really focus our attention off on that and build on the good work the team have done around style and quality and value, I think our opportunity, as Richard and I agree on this, is driving more volume.
I mean, don't forget, our home market share has gone up, but only 0.3 percentage points. So our home market share is 5.2%, and therefore, that's why I talk about Home. I also, by the way, think Home is an opportunity online, more than just stores. And I think we've got a particular challenge on furniture, and I should call that out because we're just reviewing that business at the moment. So in Home, it's a mixed result. There's some underperforming categories, and I think there's a big opportunity to drive more volume value in the future.
Yeah, great. On the second half, James, on the numbers for the year, if you take, if we deliver exactly in line with last year's second half and add that to the first half delivery, that would land us at about GBP 635 million. As we've said, given our strong performance in the first half, we are looking to make GBP 20 million or so of investments back into the business, accelerating investments that we would have made next year. Based on where people are coming out at the GBP 640 million level, I think that implies an underlying growth in the second half of around about GBP 25 million. So there should be some growth, but it's in that order of magnitude based on the GBP 640 million outcome for you.
Okay, look, I will take couple more. Adam and Paul Train, do you want to chip in? And then we'll go to Isabelle de Bracer. So-
Yeah, I think they have a question. I think they have a question.
You have got a question, that's unusual.
Okay.
Okay. Okay, Isabelle?
Hello. Good morning. Yes, I had two questions. So the first one was around the run rate of your cost savings, which are annualizing at about GBP 100 now out of the GBP 150 target. So could you give us a sense of, is this you outperforming relative to your initial budget expectations, or how much of it is the question of timing, given the various flow throughs? And in general, what are the main areas of savings which remain over the next six months? And then I have another question after that.
I'll let Andy talk, and then Jeremy can say if I've said anything wrong or fill the gaps. But thank you, Isabelle. I mean, that's the first thing to call out is obviously we laid out a plan for GBP 400 million of structural cost savings. And the reason that's important, it shouldn't just be about get costs out, it should be about restructuring M&S to be a lower cost business over time. And we will touch on that this afternoon at the Capital Markets Day. In the first half, as you know, we delivered GBP 100+ million of cost savings. And really, because that came from logistics, GBP 30 million in clothing home and also the same in clothing and in food. We did have some savings in D&D as well.
Some of that is 'cause we paused some of our work. It was GBP 20 million, where we paused some work until we were a bit clearer on the returns of those investment programs. We had GBP 30 million in retail and GBP 15 million in other simplification programs. So costs, of course, still grew. Good news, sales grew lower and sales grew faster than cost growth, and that's our overall plan. What I would say at the moment for us is our overall GBP 400 million is still in place. Our GBP 150 million for this year is still our target for this year, and that's where we're on track to deliver.
Yeah, the only thing I'd add, Isabelle, and it's about a year since I started working with Stuart. I think the program ticked off around this time last year as part of the Capital Markets Day, and then inevitably, but based on when the program started and how that's flowed into the current year, we've had a stronger weighting in the first half. Stuart and I are absolutely keen to make sure we maintain the momentum, so we'll be working with the business to try and keep the activity going and the opportunities going as we head into the budget for next year. But it's a part of the weighting, actually, just about the timing of the program and the successes we've made in the first half in delivering that.
So, we'll be looking for opportunities as we head into the next financial year, as people a month ago.
Okay, now I'll just take Nick Paul then, and I'm going to call it all because we've got four more hours of this. And even on lots of your, you know, small. So, Nick, Nick, do you want to chip in and then we'll call it Paul.
Good morning. Thank you. So two quick ones, if I may then. And firstly, and I guess this is maybe a question for this afternoon, but on food, strategically, which shopping missions or baskets are you going after? Is it still a case of being part of the customer's basket, but getting more, or are you going after full basket shops, in the larger stores? And then I guess, how does Ocado dovetail into that longer-term piece? So I have a quick follow-up on Bangladesh as well, if I may. Thank you.
Well, I think the first thing on basket is, I mean, our overall basket value is over GBP 15, GBP 15.30 or something like that. And it is ahead of pre-COVID levels. Now, obviously, units per basket is now starting to grow, as our volume is growing. I think what's more interesting is in our underlying core store estates, the top-up basket for tonight is still very important. That's because our stores are smaller, and they're a bit more top-up driven stores. You know, they're smaller, smaller range, so dinner for tonight is still critically important. In our renewal stores, it's quite different though, because our basket growth, where people are doing a bigger shop, is obviously paying off. Our basket in renewal stores is 10%+ higher than it is in our average store.
So I think it's all about format. We have different formats. We have the very small, 2,000-4,000 convenience store format. We have a 7,000 store format, which is top up, what we call top up and dinner for tonight. And then we have our bigger store format, where we want to give customers the opportunity to buy a full shop, i.e., all of the need states. And that seems to be working well. Just on Ocado, I think Ocado is just complementary. We haven't seen cannibalization. We are seeing now with the work that Alex and Hannah are doing, and they're talking this afternoon, so they can touch on this this afternoon, but we're not seeing cannibalization, and we are starting to see some growth now. The beauty for Ocado, I think, in the long term, at the moment, we've got 4,000 lines range.
That's 80% of the range from the food business. Sales are growing up. M&S sales on Ocado are up at the moment, 7%. Average orders are up and active customers are up. So, we might not be happy with the loss number, but I think it's going in the right direction, and I do think I'm not overly worried for the next 12 months or two years. But I think 3+ years from now, Ocado should be a really great story for M&S.
That's great. That's very helpful. And so one maybe to discuss a bit later as well, where you see the opportunity for market share growth. Then very quickly, if I may, on Bangladesh, do you have any initial thoughts on the wage settlement in Bangladesh and maybe how important that country is to you as a sourcing location, please?
Yeah, look, thank you. I mean, it is important, and obviously sourcing responsibility and everything we want to do is very important to us. While we will not endorse a sort of figure, we do support the process of the minimum wage negotiations. You know, our global sourcing principles for us is pay a fair wage, pay workers good wages, meet their basic needs, and therefore, we're doing a lot of work when it comes to our sourcing arrangements with Bangladesh, and it is a very important country. In fact, I'm visiting them with our sourcing team next year, and very much looking forward to it.
Yeah, I think you have to recognize Bangladesh has been very important to us historically and is today. And if you trade in Bangladesh, it is right that over time, we should see wages improving in Bangladesh. We want to see that.
Yeah.
Obviously not for us to engage directly.
It's about 40... I did mention it was about 43% of our sourcing as a whole.
It's our most important country. But remember, what's happened in Bangladesh for the last 10 years is huge investments in much more, more sustainable, better managed, factories, where the working conditions have vastly improved. So it's not the Bangladesh of 20 years ago, and, so with the, the wage inflation, which is inevitable, which is right, we're also seeing very good capital investments and very, very modern plants there. So, not a source of alarm for us.
Okay, brilliant. Thank you so much.
Okay, look, and apologies to those who haven't got in, but honestly, there's going to be lots of time this afternoon. The format's going to be very open. I hope you're all coming. There's plenty time to talk to the team individually as well as the Q&A session collectively. And, of course, a lot of grateful for the presentation. So, look forward to seeing you all then, and thanks for joining us now. Thanks.
Thank you very much, everyone.