 M&S staff, including 50,000 shop assistants, are to receive a bonus of up to £500 each in Sir Stuart Rose' final trading update as head of Marks & Spencer. Staff will share an £80 million payout, the first full bonus for
three years, after surprising the market with a surge in takings over the past three months, reported The Times. Sir Stuart claimed to have guided M&S successfully through the recession and reported that after declining sales during the downturn, his stores had increased market share in food, clothing and homewares.
Sir Stuart, who is due to step down as executive chairman in the summer, said he was leaving the company in better shape than he inherited in May 2004, when he was drafted in to fend off a takeover attempt from Sir Philip Green. “When I came here in 2004, you couldn’t get a team on the pitch that didn’t have either a broken leg or a Rooney ankle,” he said. “Now we’ve got lots of strong people on the bench.”
 Like-for-like sales rose 4.8 per cent in the 13 weeks to March 27, with clothing and home goods up 10 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. Customers were beginning to treat themselves to more expensive items of clothing, Sir Stuart added.
M&S said that the £80 million bonus would be shared by all 78,000 employees; customer assistants will receive between £200 and £500 each depending on how many hours they worked. The company said that the bonus reflected its out-performance against expectations at the start of the year.
Image: M&S
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