Marks and Spencer overseas expansion

Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, Marks and Spencer, has announced its overseas expansion by purchasing a half share in a franchise operation in eastern Europe.

The retailer, which also sells food and homewares, said it had bought 50% of a venture with Greece’s privately-owned Marinopoulos BV which operates 38 M&S stores in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as Switzerland, for 50 million euros (£38.3 million) cash.

At least 50 new stores are expected in these markets over the next few years.

Carl Leaver, M&S’s director of international business, said we have an exciting opportunity to open many more Marks & Spencer stores in Greece and the Balkans and our joint venture with Marinopoulos will mean we can really put M&S on the map in this part of the world.

In early trading today, shares in the retailer were up 0.4% at 403.75 pence, valuing the business at about £6.5 billion.

Late last year, M&S announced its intention to open stores in China as part of a plan to generate up to a fifth of sales from overseas within 5 years. It is expected that the first stores will open in Shanghai this year and the retailer is also looking at sites in Beijing.

M&S has 760 stores in over 30 countries and 10 years ago, it became the first British retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over £1 billion.

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