UK Retailer Marks & Spencer To Cut Nearly 1,000 Jobs

Prominent British retailer Marks & Spencer said it plans to cut 950 jobs in store management and at its head office as it seeks to restructure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our proposals reflect an important next step in our ‘Never the Same Again’ [restructuring] program to accelerate our transformation and become a stronger, leaner and more resilient business,” said Sacha Berendji, director of retail, operations and property at Marks & Spencer. “Through the crisis we have seen how we can work faster and more flexibly by empowering store teams and it's essential that we embed that way of working. Our priority now is to support all those affected through the consultation process and beyond.”

Marks & Spencer said the changes will “reduce management layers, and through better use of technology and insight would empower store management roles to be more focused on the customer and enable more time on the shop floor.”

While Marks & Spencer's food stores were open during the lockdown in Britain, its clothing sales plunged by 84% year-over-year in May.

The company also warned that the “aftershocks of the [COVID-19] crisis will endure for the next year and beyond and whilst some consumer habits will return to normal, other have been changed forever. The trend towards digital has been accelerated and changes to the shape of the high street have been brought forward.”

Sky News reported earlier that 27,000 Marks & Spencer employees of a total of 78,000 had already been furloughed during in the pandemic.

Marks & Spencer has also indicated it will not pay a dividend to its shareholders this year.

Marks & Spencer has also reached an agreement with its banks to relax the terms on its £1.1 billon ($1.39 billion) credit line. The company has also borrowed £300 million ($379 million) under the British government’s COVID-19 corporate finance facility.

The job cuts at Marks & Spencer follows similar job losses at other U.K. retailers, including John Lewis, Ted Baker, Boots and Debenhams.