Marks & Spencer Group plc (MKS.L) sells food, clothing, and home products around the world. It sells men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and accessories. It also sells home and furniture products including towels sheets, curtains, dinner ware, small appliances, furniture etc. In addition, M&S markets technology products, personal grooming products, gifts, and foods. It has 701 stores in the United Kingdom and 361 stores in 42 other counties. The company was founded in 1884, so it has a wealth of retailing experience and a successful track record.

Among the interesting figures about this business is that while the market capitalization is $5 billion, the enterprise value is $511 billion which is 100 times the market capitalization. Usually the enterprise value is 10 or 20% more than the market capitalization. Marks & Spencer’s enterprise value is 10,000% more than its market capitalization. This may well be because the company was founded in 1884, 127 years ago, and has been growing ever since. We can see the the company is well managed because the return on assets (ROA) is 7.44% and the return on equity is 24.62%.

However, due to the weak economy, sales have been falling and annual profit estimates have been cut back from 725 million pounds sterling to 705 million pounds sterling. The company still making great money.

The top management of Marks & Spencer includes Vindi Banga, Kate Bo-stock, Robert Swannell, and Jeremy Darroch,

Buy the way, the stock is at a down right now and it may decline further. It also might have reached it’s low and be ready to rise. I personally wouldn’t buy it at this time.

Disclaimer: All information in this site is general information and is not comprehensive enough to make investment decisions. Investment decisions should only be made after a thorough analysis of the stock involved.