M&S bosses blast Brexit as they are forced to axe 11 French stores
Marks and Spencer has blamed Brexit after announcing it is closing all 11 of its stores in France.
The retail chain says trading conditions following the UK’s departure from the European Union make continuing the cross-Channel venture impossible.
Company bosses have pointed to ‘supply chain complexities’ which prevent it from getting its full range into shops outside of the UK, including in Ireland.
The stores – which are primarily in Paris and run in conjunction with another firm, SFH – will close over the next few months.
M&S chairman Archie Norman has previously spoken out about the huge amount of additional paperwork that was required to move goods around Europe post-Brexit.
The chain’s international director Paul Friston said: ‘M&S has a long history of serving customers in France and this is not a decision we or our partner SFH have taken lightly.
‘However, as things stand today, the supply chain complexities in place following the UK’s exit from the European Union, now make it near impossible for us to serve fresh and chilled products to customers to the high standards they expect, resulting in an ongoing impact to the performance of our business.’
He said there were ‘no workable alternatives’ for the ‘lengthy and complex export processes’ which are ‘significantly constraining’ trade into Europe.
The group said nine franchise stores, which are run with Lagardere Travel Retail and are located in airports and stations, will continue to trade.
It’s not the first time the company has made changes in response to Brexit: in April, fresh and chilled products had to be removed from its Czech Republic businesses in favour of frozen food.
Despite these problems, M&S upgraded its profit outlook last month after a jump in demand for food in its home market and a surge in online clothes sales indicated that its latest turnaround plan was starting to deliver.
Supply chain issues continue to dog British retail, along with a national shortage in HGV drivers caused by a combination of Brexit and the pandemic.
Earlier this week, the Confederation of British Industry called on ministers to relax immigration rules to ease ‘supply bottlenecks’.
The organisation’s director, Tony Danker, has warned the economy could be facing two years of disruption as the government resists calls to draft in foreign labour in favour of incentivising training British workers.
He said: ‘Employers back existing government schemes to get people back into work, and businesses are already spending significant amounts on training, but that takes time to yield results, and some members suggest it could take two years rather than a couple of months for labour shortages to be fully eliminated.’
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