In response to media coverage about a leaked document from December 2000 detailing our trading performance, Marks & Spencer issued the following statement to the media on the night of Saturday 7 April 2001.
‘The leaked information is more than three months old. It is an internal document that covers our performance through December, and the full year figures are estimates, not actual results.
We have not made any secret of the performance of our business, which further supports the need for radical restructure we announced last month.
We have issued two trading updates since the date of the leaked document – our January Trading Statement and the fourth quarter Trading Statement issued on 29 March. Both of those announcements openly stated that our clothing trading performance remains poor in some areas.
In any time of uncertainty in a business, there will be some people who are unwilling to accept necessary change. It is unfortunate and sad, however, that any one employee would leak inside information in an attempt to harm the business and the other 55,000 employees of Marks & Spencer.’
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