anything under 7 cheap cheap cheap. good div. just paid. chart looks sick

I agree. Retail generally is out of favour given current economic conditions. I bought mine when it was announced that Rose was to be ceo and it was pleasing to see him put Green in his place. Although they have fallen back from a high of 740p+ I remain content to retain my holding. A very well managed company . Institutions may well reduce exposure to retailing but, I would not think MKS would be on their preferred sell lists. I will be looking to buy some more if the market shakes out. sp currently 642p

i expect a base around 6 then were off to 12. phil green will be kicking himself he lost his bottle when pulling out of his mks bid. as for interest rates you call them rising? 8% base isnt even high, any squeeze will come at 10% plus. check out the bear stearns wobble in the us, interesting.

When 8% is fact, MKS will be 4.

I think 8% is high relative to the lower levels we have seen. People have budgeted for lower rates and are more exposed to high debt levels. Gordon Brown's onerous taxation decisions have meant that the average consumer is being squeezed & household costs continue to rise. However, I believe MKS will continue to win market share to the cost of others in its sector. It is regaining a loyal following and has a quality name. As for price if and when interest rates hit 8%, ill go for 570p. Only time will tell. Rose is a clever operator and he has put his own money into the shares of the Company.

MKS are on he way up, they have turned the corner, the question is not the direction of the trend, but rather where it will end and when and perhaps why?

What corner? It is heading south.

the wisdom of the myopic day trader.

We will see by Xmas who is myopic. 629p now.

Although the interim figures are down on a like for like basis, the figures are much better than brokers' forecasts. Rose states that the trading conditions remain challenging given the general background in the sector. sp 645p.

615p today. More downtrend tomorrow

sp still around 615p. Hard to see much improvement given current consumer outlook. Personally, I think a cloud will remain over the market for many months with plenty of volatility to come. The real effects of the sub prime troubles on the real economy have yet to be seen. However, with some sovereign state funds looking to find quality investments, MKS may well qualify in this respect at some stage. Generally, it is time to be selective and invest in quality at the right price.

UK clothing retailers set to announce further decline in summer sales report - AFX


LONDON (Thomson Financial) - UK clothing retailers are set to announce a further fall in sales with the recent warm Bank Holiday weather being blamed for another decline in spending, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Pan-industry figures reportedly seen by the newspaper show that like-for-like sales across 38 clothing chains -- comprising around 4,000 shops -- were 3.1 pct down in the week to last Saturday. Industry insiders said they have not improved since, according to the newspaper.

In some cases, clothing sales over the Bank Holiday weekend fell by double-digits at some chains, the article added.

Clothing bosses are now viewing strong September sales as crucial. 'Everyone has had a bad run and most people need a good September. If not there will be trouble and we will see profit warnings,' the owner of a privately-owned clothing chain reportedly told the newspaper.

In a separate article in the Sunday Express, Marks & Spencer PLC has reportedly seen a four basis points drop in its clothing market share to 10.2 pct in the 24 weeks to July 22 as shoppers turned to supermarkets and discount chains for cheap basics, the paper said.

567p now. Who's myopic now? Tobyboy?

looks like retailers will have a dreadful Christmas even if base rate falls. It seems that wholesale interest rates will have more of a bearing - credit rates and all that.I only hold Tesco and Marks in retail and hope to buy some more MKS if further weakness is seen. I think both Tesco and Marks will be on overseas investment lists if sentiment declines.

sp has made a measure of recovery at 640p. My wife says that MKS autumn fashions are very good and offer excellent value and the quality is there as you would expect.Mens range also very good. The outstanding value mens range offers a shirt, trousers and jumper for 30 pounds. Food, although not cheap, is of excellent quality and seems to be doing well. Retail sector will have its winners and big losers and the differences between them in the current climate will be stark.

Looks like Tobyboy is getting more myopic each day now. 498.5p now.

Good luck, Tobyboy...409p...dropping big time today

Any ideas where and when it is going to stop droping, and to which price.

300p imho.

LONDON (Reuters) - Marks and Spencer reported its worst quarterly performance in two years on Wednesday and warned the pain for retailers could extend into 2009, sending its shares down 21 percent and weighing on the sector.

The retail bellwether shocked investors with a 2.2 percent fall in sales at UK stores open at least a year during the crucial Christmas period, after lowering prices across the board to lure shoppers spooked by the credit crunch.

"Dreadful numbers," broker Panmure wrote in a research note as several analysts cut profit forecasts and questioned whether Marks and Spencer would achieve its long-anticipated pretax profit of 1 billion pounds this financial year.

The stock suffered its largest fall since entering the benchmark FTSE-100 in 1983, touching a two-year low of 398 pence at one point. Analysts had expected zero to 1 percent growth.

"In this market you just can't afford to disappoint.''