RUTH SUNDERLAND: Be happy, City may be struggling but we have M&S

Perhaps it is a bit of an exaggeration to say that if Marks & Spencer does well, the whole country will feel better.

In a week of political unrest and the dispiriting spectacle of former Post Office boss Paula Vennells being eviscerated for failing to stop the persecution of innocent postal workers, at least we had M&S to cheer us up.

After years of boring fashion and dismal financial performance, it really looks like Marks is finally back on form.

When much of national life is crumbling and seemingly dysfunctional, it is reassuring to hope that we can at least rely on M&S.

The retailer’s shares have risen 65 percent in the past 12 months as investors begin to believe chairman Archie Norman and CEO Stuart Machin have found the right formula.

The big question is whether this is another false dawn.

As recently as 2018, when Norman warned it was on a “burning platform,” Marks was facing an existential crisis.

There are reasons to believe that the recovery this time is built on a solid foundation.

The retailer has seen 12 quarters of sales growth, increased profits by 58 percent to £716 million, more than the market expected, and is paying its first dividend since 2019.

The revival is led by food, but clothing is also doing well – in some cases so well that Machin complains that some trendy clothing items are selling out too quickly.

Not everything is rosy. International business is disappointing and the performance of the Ocado joint venture is below expectations.

But the balance sheet is in its best shape in years, with debt down and free cash flow up sharply.

Last year it stormed back into the FTSE 100 index after a four-year absence, and last week it was the biggest gainer in the blue chip share index.

This is all good news for investors, even though very long-term bondholders are still sitting on paper losses.

Marks has a formidable army of private shareholders, but its fortunes resonate much more broadly. Most of us feel like we have some kind of ‘ownership’ of the company.

It is virtually synonymous with the High Street and that is why such strong emotions are evoked when the business leaves a city center.

Maybe there are a few Brits who don’t care about our most revered retailer, but I haven’t met any.

Even my husband, who hates shopping as much as I do, was disappointed when he went to the Clapham Junction branch to buy underwear, only to find that the store is now completely dedicated to food.

Aside from the spouses’ grumpiness, a big part of the revival is the redesign of the shopping complex to put the right type of store in the right location.

Marks also offers something of an antidote to the chaos surrounding London’s stock market, where a series of companies have defected or chosen to go elsewhere.

The anti-London narrative, whether justified or not, has taken root. As we reported in The Mail on Sunday, even London Tunnels – a company whose ambition to turn an underground network used by Winston Churchill during the war into a tourist attraction changed Britishness – is now planning to float in Amsterdam.

At a time when the London stock market is so widely denigrated, it is heartening to see Marks, perhaps the most quintessentially British company in the Footsie, performing with such enthusiasm.