However, M&S’s revamp campaign is likely to have had an impact on first-half results, due to be reported on Tuesday.
M&S will have overhauled more than two thirds of its space ahead of the Christmas period and improvements are expected to bring significant uplifts.
Kaupthing analyst Matthew McEachran said the programme’s benefits should be evident over the golden quarter. “The third-quarter performance uplift could be as much as 3 per cent taking into account the modernisation/disruption effect alone, with additional space reallocation and range initiatives potentially supporting further density enhancement on top,” he said.
Deutsche Bank analysts took a similar view. The broker believes the year-on-year profit improvement from store modernisations in the third quarter would be as much as£32.5 million.
Deutsche also expected M&S to benefit from more newness in stores. The broker said: “The pace of new product introductions and advertising campaigns slowed over the last six months, while a third of the stores were being disrupted by modernisation. That is changing in the lead-up to Christmas, with a raft of celebrity endorsement and designer collaboration.”
McEachran said there would only be a “marginal uplift” in interim UK profit to£416.8 million as a result of the cost of store openings and refits, but noted: “This period, in our view, represents a low point.”
Deutsche expected M&S’s overall first-half pre-tax profits to come in at about£442 million, assuming second-quarter like-for-like jumps of 3 per cent in general merchandise and 1.5 per cent in food.
Alongside its interims next week, M&S will reveal trading for the second quarter, covering the period from July to September. The retailer will not issue figures for the subsequent weeks but is expected to make a general comment, likely to be seized upon as a key indicator of the retail sector.
No comments yet