It's the Machin and Norman show as M&S comes back with a bang, says MAGGIE PAGANO

It's the Machin and Norman show as M&S comes back with a bang, says MAGGIE PAGANO By Maggie Pagano Updated: 17:00 EDT, 22 May 2024 e-mail View comments The cheer from one City analyst was ‘M&S is back, baby!’ after Marks & Spencer reported a stellar set of full-year results. And back with a bang. The retailer is not only back on the right side of St Michael but may even be coming close to reaching paradise.

Profits are up by a whopping 58 per cent, sales are £1billion higher at £13billion and the shares topped the FTSE 100 leader board. Adding a halo to the fabulous figures is a full-year dividend of 3p, the first in five years. All credit must go to the top M&S team – its brilliant chairman Archie Norman, and the equally brilliant chief executive Stuart Machin, who managed the impossible: making M&S fashionable again and delivering what they promised when they presented their turnaround strategy.

What’s more, all divisions from clothing and homeware to food have now shown 12 consecutive quarters of growth. Dream team: M&S chief executive Stuart Machin, left, and chairman Archie Norman, right, have led a dramatic turnaround at the High Street chain That’s not easy. They have had to contend with the rough and tumble of the High Street with fierce competitors on the scene like Zara, Mango and Next as well as a cost of living crisis which has squeezed incomes to the bone.

Yet the good news is that M&S is slowly creeping back towards its earlier dominance as one of th.