London, Nov 1 - Marks & Spencer, Britain's biggest clothing retailer, is set to post a 34 percent drop in first-half profit on Tuesday, hit by a deepening consumer downturn and self-confessed mistakes at its food business.
The 124-year-old mainstay of UK retailing is expected to report profit before tax and one-off items of 296.5 million pounds ($482.4 million) for the six months ended September, according to the mean forecast of 11 analysts in a Reuters poll.
That would be the worst first-half performance since 2004 and down from 451.8 million in the same period last year.
Forecasts ranged from 281 million to 313 million pounds.
Marks and Spencer (M&S) said a company poll produced a consensus forecast of 290 million pounds.
Shares in M&S, whose 600-plus British stores are visited by more than 21 million people every week, have plunged as much as two-thirds in value over the past 18 months and hit a 7-1/2 year low of 191.90 pence in September.
The firm restored some calm last month by saying it was cutting costs and investment to cope with tough trading, which raised hopes its dividend would not be reduced.
It also said it was tackling problems, such as poor stock availability and insufficient promotions at its upmarket food business.
But M&S reported a 6.1 percent drop in second-quarter UK like-for-like sales, its worst performance for three years, and recent comments from rivals suggest trading has got even worse.
Bellwether British retailer John Lewis [JLP.UL] on Friday reported a 9.8 percent plunge in sales at its department stores for the week ended Oct. 25.
Full-year profit forecasts for M&S continue to fall, with the average now standing at 683 million pounds, down from about 1 billion at the start of the year, according to Reuters Estimates. The average for the year ending March 2010 has also fallen, and now stands at about 540 million pounds.
Most analysts believe the interim dividend will be kept at 8.3 pence a share. But Investec and Credit Suisse think that, despite company assurances, the final dividend will be cut.
M&S's interim results come on the same day as annual numbers from Associated British Foods , which is expected to confirm its discount clothing chain Primark is gaining market share.
M&S's mid-market rival Next issues a trading update on Wednesday.
M&S shares closed at 219 pence on Friday, valuing it at about 3.5 billion pounds.