Marks & Spencer won't provide trading update at AGM

Marks & Spencer has told analysts not to expect a first-quarter trading update alongside the group's shareholder meeting on Tuesday.

The annual general meeting on 10 July, will be the retailer's first under chairman Archie Norman and new chief financial officer Humphrey Singer, who started work for the group on Monday.

Breaking with tradition, M&S indicated at May's preliminary results there will be no first- or second-quarter trading update, with the next formal report being the interim results in November.

Some analysts were still miffed that M&S did not provide a second-quarter update at the end of last September.

If the excuse had been that Singer wanted time to get his feet under the desk, "the City might have swallowed this," mused independent retail analyst Nick Bubb, "but, in response to protests from disbelieving analysts, M&S merely said that management are focused on 'the long-term transformation plan' and that most investors are not interested in 'short-term noise'."

Bubb added that, in his experience, "it’s not a good sign when companies get arrogant like this…The last retailer that said something similar was the embattled Debenhams and look where their share price has slumped to! The failure to disseminate price-sensitive trading information in a timely manner is also unfair on the hapless house brokers Deutsche, as whatever they now say will be interpreted as having 'the inside track'."

Clive Black at broker Shore Capital was "relaxed about this" as the FTSE 100 group is still "in the foothills of a medium to long-term change programme". He said if the trading performance required a change in guidance it would be provided.

"Accordingly, we see a business where there are no quick fixes; bulls will need to be patient whilst management needs to perform against its plans."

Shore Capital forecasts that profit before tax for 2019 of £544m and earnings per share of 25.8p. The City consensus is for a PBT of around £552m and EPS of close to 26.5p.