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Jan Shure

ByJan Shure, Jan Shure

Opinion

Time to go back to the 80s, M&S

M&S are out of the FTSE100 index. Jan Shure has some advice to boost sales

September 11, 2019 15:50
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2 min read

Knickers, it seems, are not enough to keep M&S in the FTSE100 Index. Despite selling more than 60,000,000 pairs of pants in 2015, the High Street giant founded in 1884 by Polish-Jewish refugee Michael Marks is to be demoted from the FTSE 100 on September 23 after the company’s market value fell below the threshold for membership.

This painful blow is all the worse as M&S was a founding member of the prestigious City index. It’s a bit like Stephen Fry being kicked out of the Groucho Club.

Last week’s announcement led Times columnist Deborah Ross to urge readers to “save our Marks.” Otherwise, she averred with heavy irony, they risked “ending up wearing better clothes at better prices, better made from better fabrics…” bought from retailers such as Primark, Gap, Uniqlo and The White Company.

Where has M&S gone so wrong that it is now considered inferior to many High Street brands?