Marks & Spencer (M&S;) is a major British retailer, with over 885 stores in more than 40 territories around the world, over 600 domestic and 285 international. It is the largest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, as well as being an upmarket food retailer, and as of 2008, the 43rd largest retailer in the world. Most of its domestic stores sell both clothing and food, and since the turn of the century it has started expanding into other rang...
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Marks & Spencer (M&S;) is a major British retailer, with over 885 stores in more than 40 territories around the world, over 600 domestic and 285 international. It is the largest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, as well as being an upmarket food retailer, and as of 2008, the 43rd largest retailer in the world. Most of its domestic stores sell both clothing and food, and since the turn of the century it has started expanding into other ranges such as homewares, furniture and technology.
In 1998 it became the first British retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over £1 billion, though a few years later it plunged into a crisis which lasted for several years.
It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The company was founded by Michael Marks, a Polish Jewish immigrant from Slonim; he first opened a penny bazaar (Marks Penny Bazaar) in Hartlepool, the port of his entry into England, selling imported toys and other goods from his native...
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