On Tuesday, M&S is starting consultations with the 101 employees in Romania on its proposal.
The group proposed the closing of all 53 wholly-owned stores in ten markets, including ten in China and seven in France, as well as all stores in Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, due to falling sales and profits.
“Last year our owned businesses in ten other markets made a loss of £45 million on revenues of £171 million, some markets have now been loss making for at least five years. Our review has found this is due to a number of factors including our fragmented owned -store portfolio and lack of scale. Additionally, there is limited opportunity for future growth in these markets,” the company said in a statement.
The group will continue to operate through owned stores in Ireland, Hong Kong and Czech Republic, where its business is more profitable.
Marks & Spencer also announced that, in the next five years, it will have 60 fewer clothing and home stores, of which 30 will close down and the rest will be turned into food stores. The company plans to open 200 new Simply Food shops as part of turnaround plans, according to BBC.