LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Marks & Spencer faces 120 million pounds of extra costs next year as a result of the government’s budget on Oct. 30, the food and clothing retailer’s chief executive said on Wednesday.
An increase to employers’ social security contributions amounts to a 60 million pound headwind to M&S next year, while the 6.7% rise in minimum wage announced by the government will add another 60 million pounds, CEO Stuart Machin said.
The group had already planned for the wage increase and Machin said it would try to absorb the extra costs by looking for savings elsewhere in the business rather than pass them on to consumers.
He called the minimum wage “a good cost” and said he understood finance minister Rachel Reeves had difficult choices to make, but he was disappointed that there was no immediate cut to business rates for retailers.
“Although there was some recognition that retail and hospitality should pay less, I was disappointed that it’s unclear what that will be,” he told reporters.
Reeves committed to lower business rates for high street stores from 2026-2027.
Predominantly bricks-and-mortar retailers have for years complained that business rates – a property tax charged on most commercial properties to fund local services – are archaic and hand an unfair cost advantage to online retailers.
($1 = 0.7747 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey and Sarah Young, Editing by Paul Sandle)
