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Marks & Spencer is to open 20 new shops and create thousands of new jobs, thanks to an investment in its stores worth £480m.

New M&S stores will open at former Debenhams sites in Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Thurrock this year, the retailer has announced.

More than 3,400 jobs will be created over three years, according to M&S.

Debenhams shut for good in May 2021 as COVID-19 lockdowns proved to be the final straw for the department store chain.

But M&S has now announced expansion plans which could revive some abandoned Debenhams locations.

Sites in Leeds’s White Rose shopping centre, Liverpool’s ONE shopping centre, Birmingham’s Bullring, Manchester’s Trafford Centre and Lakeside shopping centre in West Thurrock will be converted into full M&S stores.

The new shops in Leeds and Liverpool will open in the summer, with the new Birmingham store scheduled to follow in the autumn. M&S said the Manchester and Thurrock shops will open towards the end of 2023.

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A total of 12 new Marks & Spencer food halls will also open this year. Food outlets are planned in Stockport, Barnsley in South Yorkshire and Largs in North Ayrshire.

The department store said it is also extending its food offering via franchise partnerships, building on the presence of its convenience food in Costa Coffee shops and service stations.

‘Bigger and better’ shops

M&S said the better than expected performance of “recently relocated and renewed stores” had given the company the confidence to “go faster” with its plans for change.

It said each of the larger new stores had been designed “with local families in mind”, with wider aisles and more spacious clothing and home departments, allowing shoppers to browse more easily.

While new, larger stores are being built the overall number of M&S brick and mortar will recline from 247 to 180 “higher quality, higher productivity full line stores that sell our full clothing, home and food offer whilst also opening over 100 bigger, better food sites.

The shops will also have new M&S cafes, as well as sustainable initiatives such as Fill Your Own, and offer free car parking.

Chief executive Stuart Machin said stores were a “key part” of the group’s future, alongside online trading.

He said: “Our store rotation programme is about making sure we have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space and we’re aiming to rotate from the 247 stores we have today to 180 higher-quality, higher-productivity full-line stores that sell our full clothing, home and food offer whilst also opening over 100 bigger, better food sites.”

Sales were ahead of forecasts in clothing and home sales in Colchester and Llandudno, while the newly expanded M&S food shop in Harrogate outperformed by 26%.

The strong figures were illustrative of increased sales across M&S stores in the final three months of last year.

Like-for-like food sales were up by 6.3% over the 13 weeks to 31 December. The brand’s clothing and home products enjoyed their greatest market share for seven years, with sales up by 8.6%.

As recently as November M&S reported a big dip in profits and warned of a “gathering storm” ahead from rising costs and squeezed consumer budgets.

Profit before tax and adjusting items was £205.5m for the six months to 1 October, 24% down on the same period a year previous, despite an 8.5% revenue increase across the business.

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M&S and Kingfisher among suitors circling Homebase stores

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M&S and Kingfisher among suitors circling Homebase stores

Marks & Spencer (M&S) and the owner of B&Q have expressed an interest in taking over dozens of stores operated by Homebase, the DIY chain which fell into administration this month.

Sky News has learnt M&S and Kingfisher are among the retailers which are circling the remaining Homebase estate of close to 50 outlets, ahead of a deadline for offers on Friday.

The two companies are said to be preparing offers for between 20 and 25 sites, raising the possibility that hundreds of jobs can be saved.

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Roughly 2,000 jobs were put at risk by Homebase’s collapse, with administrators said to have been working hard over the last fortnight to rescue as many as possible.

Property industry sources said Home Bargains, the privately owned homewares retailer, was also in the mix to acquire a small number of Homebase sites.

About 70 of the DIY chain’s stores, along with its brand and e-commerce operation, were sold to the owner of The Range in a pre-pack deal.

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The Range, founded by Chris Dawson, has also taken on around 1,600 Homebase employees.

Teneo had been running a sale process for Homebase prior to its appointment as administrator.

Read more from Sky News:
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The process comes at a time when retailers are facing intensifying cost pressures in the wake of the Budget, with Kingfisher and M&S warning about the impact in recent weeks.

M&S and Kingfisher declined to comment.

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Latest sign of struggling industry as car production falls for eighth month in a row – SMMT

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Latest sign of struggling industry as car production falls for eighth month in a row - SMMT

UK car production has slowed, according to industry figures, in the latest sign of a struggling sector.

For the eighth month in a row UK car manufacturing fell, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

October saw 15.3% fewer cars roll off factory lines than the same month a year ago, meaning 14,037 fewer cars were made last month compared to October 2023.

The impact of this reduced production could be visible in the last week from the announcement of 800 job cuts from Ford UK and Vauxhall‘s Luton plant closure.

Part of the blame for the closure was placed on government electric car sales targets by Stellantis, Vauxhall’s parent company.

Pressure has been on UK car producers to meet the government’s electric car mandate.

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Govt to look into EV target mandate

Under the mandate, financial penalties are currently levied against makers if zero-emission vehicles make up less than 22% of all sales. This will rise to 80% of all sales by 2030 and 100% by 2035.

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But the sales have not lived up to the targets and are less than the forecasts made at the time the 2030 target was devised. Instead of the intended 22% of all car sales being fully electric at present just 18.7% of cars are.

Following complaints from the sector facing £1.8bn in fines for missing targets and £4bn in discounts to make electric vehicles (EVs) more appealing ending in April next year, as well as longstanding calls for more support, a review into the mandate was announced.

Today’s figures show production for both the UK and for export declined, with the biggest fall (17.6%) in vehicles leaving the country.

The vast majority of vehicles (80%) are shipped abroad with half going to Europe.

Car maker problems are not unique to the UK as European manufacturers are also facing weaker EV demand than anticipated and competition from Chinese imports.

High borrowing costs and more expensive raw materials have compounded the problem.

On Friday, Bosch – the world’s biggest car parts supplier – reported the loss of 5,500 jobs, predominantly in Germany.

Less than a month ago Volkswagen revealed plans to shut at least three factories in Germany and lay off tens of thousands of staff.

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FCA to give companies extra 48 hours in ‘name and shame’ compromise

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FCA to give companies extra 48 hours in 'name and shame' compromise

The City watchdog is to give companies it is investigating an additional window to contest allegations as it seeks to defuse the months-long row over its so-called ‘name and shame’ proposals.

Sky News has learnt that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) plans to disclose on Thursday that it will allow the subjects of enforcement probes a 48-hour window to assess the contents of its announcements before they are made public.

Under the proposals, the FCA would give companies ten days’ notice that they were being investigated, at the end of which it could decide to proceed with the announcement, triggering the extra 48-hour window.

The revised plan represents a climbdown from the regulator after a fierce backlash from the City and politicians which started earlier this year.

Jeremy Hunt, the then chancellor, was among those who criticised the FCA’s stance.

In recent weeks, the watchdog’s chair, Ashley Alder, and chief executive Nikhil Rathi, have acknowledged flaws in the original plan and signalled that they would water it down.

They have argued that the principle of naming and shaming will act as an effective regulatory deterrent.

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The Treasury and Sir Keir Starmer have put Britain’s economic regulators on notice that they need to adopt a pro-growth approach to their mandates.

Mr Rathi, who threw his hat into the ring for the soon-to-be-vacant cabinet secretary’s post, is expected to step down when his first five-year term expires next autumn.

The FCA declined to comment.

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