Marks and Spencer 2000 Annual Report Download - page 20

Principal activities
The principal activities of the Group are Retailing and
Financial Services.
Retailing consists of the Group’s retail activities under the
Marks & Spencer, Brooks Brothers and Kings Super Markets
brand names and includes the activity of M&S Direct.
Financial Services consists of the operations of the Group’s
Retail Financial Services companies, which provide account
cards, personal loans, unit trust management, life assurance
and pensions. The Group’s Captive insurance company is also
included in this segment as a significant part of its business is
generated from the provision of related insurance services.
Review of activities and future performance
A review of the Group’s activities and of the future development
of the Group is contained in the Chairman’s Statement and the
Chief Executive’s Review within the Annual Review and
Summary Financial Statement.
Profit and dividends
The profit for the financial year, after taxation and minority
interests, amounts to £258.7m. The directors have declared
dividends as follows: £m
Ordinary shares
Interim paid, 3.7p per share (last year 3.7p) 106.3
Proposed final, 5.3p per share (last year 10.7p) 152.3
Total ordinary dividends, 9.0p per share (last year 14.4p) 258.6
The final dividend will be paid on 28 July 2000 to shareholders
whose names are on the Register of Members at the close of
business on 5 June 2000.
Share capital
(i) Issue of new shares
During the year ended 31 March 2000, 3,964,345 ordinary
shares in the Company were issued as follows:
A264,240 under the terms of the 1984 Executive Share Option
Scheme at prices between 175p and 254p each.
B28,331 under the terms of the 1987 Executive Share Option
Scheme at prices between 329p and 341p.
C3,671,774 issued into the Qualifying Employee Share
Ownership Trust of which 3,203,511 were issued under the
terms of the United Kingdom Employees’ Save As You Earn
Share Option Scheme at prices between 229p and 467p.
(ii) Purchase of own shares
The directors are authorised by the shareholders to purchase, in
the market, the Company’s own shares, as permitted under the
Company’s Articles of Association. Although no such purchases
have been made, the directors will seek to renew the authority
from its shareholders at the AGM.
M ajor shareholders
As at 14 May 2000, the Company’s share register of substantial
shareholdings showed the following interests in 3% or more of
the Company’s shares:
ORDINARY % SHARE
SHARES CAPITAL
Brandes Investment Partners, L.P. 214,237,570 7.45%
Franklin Resources, Inc. 169,299,710 5.89%
In addition, JP Morgan have notified us that they are holding
122,828,784 ordinary shares (4.27%) as American Depositary
Receipts, 111,358,482 of which are included in above figures
for Brandes Investment Partners and Franklin Resources.
Directors and their interests
The current directors are listed on page 25 of the Annual Review
and Summary Financial Statement.
Derek Hayes, Chris Littmoden and John Sacher retired as
executive directors on 31 May 1999.
Sir Richard Greenbury retired as Chairman on 22 June 1999.
James Benfield and Lord Stone of Blackheath retired as
executive directors on 31 December 1999.
Alan McWalter and Luc Vandevelde were appointed to the
Board on 1 January 2000 and 28 February 2000 respectively.
The beneficial interests of the directors and their families in
the shares of the Company and its subsidiaries, together with
their interests as trustees of both charitable and other trusts,
are given on page 16.
Employee involvement
We have maintained our commitment to employee involvement
throughout the business.
Employees are kept well informed of the performance and
objectives of the Group through personal briefings, regular
meetings and e-mail. These are supplemented by our employee
publication, On Your Marks, and video presentations. ‘Focus
teams’ in stores, distribution centres and head office provide
opportunities for employee representatives to contribute to the
everyday running of the business.
The fifth meeting of the European Council took place
last July. This council provides an additional forum for
communicating with employee representatives from the
countries in which we trade in the European Community.
Directors and senior management regularly visit stores and
discuss, with employees, matters of current interest and concern
to the business.
We have long-established Employees’ Profit Sharing and
Savings-Related Share Option Schemes, membership of which
is service-related, details of which are given on page 30.
18 Marks and Spencer p.l.c.
Directors’ report