Ground Floor: It's been quite a while since I mentioned Marks & Spencer (M&S), mainly because there hasn't been anything very interesting to say.
Every since the Stuart Rose vs Philip Green bust-up outside the company's HQ at the time of Mr Green's failed bid, the retailer has been continuing to post weak trading results and seems to be happy to get through each day without any great master plan to change things.
Like-for-like sales for the final quarter of last year were down 6 per cent, which was incredibly poor. The company continues to haemorrhage market share in the clothing department, while the marketing of Tesco's Finest range is putting the squeeze on the jewel in the M&S crown, its food halls.
Although the M&S experience in the Republic has been positive, it's certainly not enough to drag the company out of the mire. (And the "concept" store in Blanchardstown is a complete mystery to me; when asked what it actually meant, one of the sales assistants replied that they "wore black uniforms".)
Somewhat surprisingly, the share price has continued to make more ground than the profits, and is hanging around the 350p level (Mr Green, you remember, was offering 400p); and many investors seem to think that - even if things aren't getting any better - they won't get any worse. This is not exactly a comforting reason for investing in the company, of course; given the competitive world of fashion and food retailing, things actually could get worse.
Maybe shareholders are comforted by the disposal of M&S Money and the sale of the former HQ at Baker Street last week, but my concerns would be for the future growth and strategic direction of the business. Or maybe they're hoping that Mr Green will re-enter the fray around the 400p level, although whether he could be bothered or not is a reasonable question.
After all, BHS, which is owned by Mr Green, claims record profits. Why get bogged down in M&S misery when all is well in Arcadia?
Of course, if former chairman Luc Vandevelde had delivered on his promises it might be a different story for investors and consumers alike.
Mr Vandevelde was at the helm for four years and promised to turn the fortunes of the retailer around by getting back to core values. (New chairmen always say things like this.)
He closed down the continental stores and slashed jobs, which managed to win him Britain's National Business Award in 2003, but his wide variety of outside interests led to a somewhat semi-detached role at the group.
At one point, he hadn't turned up at HQ for three weeks and the directors decided that they'd had enough.
One of Mr Vandevelde's outside interests was as a board member of French retailing giant Carrefour. His commitment to the supermarket chain is even stronger now - he has just replaced the previous chairman, Daniel Bernard, who was at the helm for the past 14 years.
In the Republic we have embraced the European ideal with gusto, having gone metric with weights and measures and welcomed the euro with open arms.
We're less familiar with the continent's retailing giants. We're beginning to get to grips with Aldi and Lidl, but their Irish stores are small compared with what we're used to.
Carrefour, on the other hand, is like Tesco - only bigger. When I do my Spanish/Irish comparisons it's in a Carrefour that I fill the basket. (The French company took over the Spanish Continiente group a few years ago.) The supermarket chain is Europe's biggest and the world's second biggest in terms of sales, although Tesco has a greater market value.
But the performance of the share price over the past five years has been miserable, plunging from €96 to about €40 now. The retail market in France is savage, and competitive pressures are growing. Carrefour needs to be able to maintain its reputation for quality while still being able to compete on price. And it's losing the battle.
So why have they brought Mr Vandevelde on board? Let's face it, if he couldn't do it for M&S what makes anyone think he can do it for Carrefour? He is, of course, close to the Halley family, which holds a 13 per cent stake in the company and almost 20 per cent of the voting rights, so they are likely to cut him a good deal more slack than if he'd just sent in his CV.
The group has restructured its management roles by setting up a management board for day-to-day activities and a supervisory board as a control body, a structure Mr Vandevelde says is better for the challenges facing the group.
He's big on changing structures, but is he really so big on changing anything else?
Perhaps Carrefour is an easier challenge for a man whose experience is more rooted in the food sector than in clothing. Mr Vandevelde spent 24 years at Kraft General Foods, so his knowledge of coffee and dairy spreads is a good deal stronger than his knowledge of hemlines and fabrics.
The president of the Carrefour management board, Jose Luis Duran, wants to build a stronger group and "mobilise the men and women of the company". He believes that the group needs to have a more aggressive policy for the future and is keen to make changes. The changes apparently do not include a merger with Tesco, an interesting idea floated in retailing circles recently.
Every summer, when the nearest branch of Carrefour to me is bursting to the seams with the piled-high trolleys of overseas home owners and Madrileños who have come to the coast to escape the blistering city heat, I can't help thinking that it's an absolute goldmine. But one branch can't help the bottom line improve. The question is, can Mr Vandevelde?
