M&S seeks sites for three more stores

British retail chain, Marks & Spencer, is actively looking at opening in three new locations in the Republic.

The London-listed company opened a store in Dublin's Dundrum Town Centre this week, and it is set to begin trading out of two other outlets in Galway and Blackrock, Co Dublin, in May and June.

Its chief executive, Stuart Rose, said during a visit to Dublin yesterday that the group planned further expansion in Ireland. Mr Rose said it is actively looking at two or three sites for new stores. However, a final decision is still some time away. He also indicated that the company could soon end its silence on its financial performance in the Republic. Marks & Spencer has long insisted that its Irish business outperforms the group as a whole.

However, the company does not reveal sales or profits for its Irish stores, which form part of its international division. It is not obliged to file accounts with the Companies' Registration Office (CRO) as the parent guarantees the Irish subsidiary's liabilities.

Mr Rose said that Marks & Spencer would look at giving out this information. "I can't see any reason why we shouldn't," he said. The group is facing difficulties in Britain. Its figures for the six months to the end of last September show that UK retail turnover had slipped to £3.32 billion (€4.8 billion) in 2004 from £3.3 billion. However, a gain in its financial services business lifted operating profit by 1.4 per cent to £321 million.

It has also been on the receiving end of criticism in the British media, and has been subject of a number of takeover rumours. Mr Rose said that some of the negative publicity was to blame for the contrast between its performances in Britain and Ireland.

"I think that our brand here has not suffered some of the aggressive negative publicity and self-inflicted injury as in the UK," he said. "The second thing is because your store portfolio is relatively new [ it opened its first outlet here in 1980] you don't suffer from the negative effect that we've got in the UK from having a large chain of stores that badly needs a refit."

The group is piloting a new format in Dundrum and Tallaght that will form part of its fight back if it is successful here. Mr Rose argued that he needed to be sure before he agreed to a wholesale refit in the UK, which he estimated would cost £1.2 billion.

He added that this would take three months. "By May I would certainly know if it were going to work," he said.

It has also been fighting the battle on price in the UK, targeting a number of competitors, including Next, which has also opened in Dundrum. Mr Rose said that it was charging the same prices in its Irish stores as in its UK outlets.