Marks & Spencer poised to announce more store closures

Falling profits and increasingly tough high street trading fuels expectations of a much bolder restructuring plan from M&S

Marks & Spencer is expected to ramp up its store-closure plan next week as a result of falling profits and tough trading conditions on the high street.

Last year M&S announced it would close 30 stores as part of an overhaul designed to slash by 10% the amount of shopfloor space devoted to its struggling clothing arm. But industry sources suggest M&S's chief executive, Steve Rowe, has been working on a bolder restructuring plan with the new chairman, Archie Norman, before its first-half trading update on Wednesday.

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