Profits slump at M&S

Marks & Spencer's has suffered yet another blow with the news that profits for the company's food business have plunged.

Marks & Spencer's has suffered yet another blow with the news that profits for the company's food business have plunged.

Operating profits from the food business have dropped from their peak of £247 million in 1996 to £137 pounds in 1999.

The figures were released in a Competition Commission report on the supermarket industry, which for the first time revealed the details of the shopping giant's food business.

The news has heightened fears that the much-publicised problems at the company could be even worse than previously susected.

One analyst was reported as saying: "Everyone has been focusing on clothing as the problem, but food has been worse than we thought."