What we got was a repeat of May’s announcement that a review is under way but that no announcement is imminent

What we got was a repeat of May’s announcement that a review is under way but that no announcement is imminent. The main contenders, Peter Salsbury and Keith Oates, both looked comfortable enough, but they may have to wait a while yet before they get their hands on the prize.Much of what has gone wrong at M&S is not Sir Richard’s fault. It is unfortunate that he pressed the button on the company’s biggest-ever expansion programme just as most of his major markets started heading south. And few faulted the logic of buying 19 stores from Littlewoods when the deal was done.But there have been some buying mistakes and there is a growing feeling that M&S has become a bit too centralised, a bit too bureaucratic for its own good Perhaps it is time for some gradual adjustments.

But there was no mistaking that instead of the “wounded rhino” that usually stalks the podium, we were given a glimpse of a different, statesmanlike Sir Richard. Perhaps it was the valium he joked he had taken before the presentations. Or perhaps it was just his response to the growing clamour for clarification over the management succession which has been building over the past few weeks. That commitment is strong in Runcorn.”However, an ONS insider said: “That lot in Runcorn are changing the figures constantly It’s a real can of worms up there. No-one should believe any of the figures they publish.”On Monday Mr Holt said he would be suspending publication of the earnings data until a review of the revisions had been completed. “Public confidence in this series has clearly been dented,” he said.Outlook, page 23.

SIR RICHARD GREENBURY, the Marks & Spencer chairman, seemed a changed man yesterday Perhaps the profits warning had taken its toll. He added that the market-sensitive nature of the earnings figures made it difficult to discuss fully possible implications of the data revisions with the Bank.It would not be right, Mr Holt said, for the Bank to make interest-rate decisions on the basis of information that had not been released to the markets.The ONS chief defended his staff in Runcorn who put together the labour market data. He said: “The professional commitment to what we do pervades the whole office. If we’d had the resources, we would have done the work a year ago.” He added: “There may have been a problem of not having the right intellectual resources in the right place at the right time.”The ONS head also blamed deficiencies in the data series that his agency – set up three years ago – inherited from the employment department “The old series had not really been updated. There was no doubt that the methodology being used was not best practice,” he said.Recent revisions to the earnings data appalled the Bank and the Treasury. It is feared that the MPC may have wrongly raised rates in June on the basis of the original data from the ONS.

An inquiry headed by senior Bank and Treasury figures into the shock revisions has been launched.However, Mr Holt said yesterday that the MPC, like other users of the data, “fully understands the margins of error” involved. Tim Holt, ONS director, blamed limited resources for the failure to address until this autumn deficiencies in the average earnings growth figures – one of the most important pieces of information used by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee in setting interest rates.
He told MPs on the Treasury sub-committee: “[Revisions to] earnings were given a lower priority. THE HEAD of the Office for National Statistics yesterday defended his handling of controversial revisions to key earnings data, amid growing speculation about his future at the helm of the agency. Its main spirit brands, including Fleischman’s gin, Barton vodka, Paul Masson brandy, Montezuma tequila and Canadian LTD whisky, are little known outside the US.In its financial year to February 1998 Canandaigua made a profit of $84.9m (pounds 51.1m) on a turnover of $1.6bn..

Yesterday they jumped by 48p to 239.5p.Canandaigua intends to use Matthew Clark as a platform from which to make further acquisitions to raise its international profile, said Richard Sands, the president and chief executive officer.Canandaigua is the second-largest wine producer and distributor in the US, the second-largest marketer of imported beers, and the fourth-largest spirits producer.Of its four leading wine brands, only Paul Masson is known in the UK. The price offered by the fourth-biggest US drinks business is 81 per cent above the market price a fortnight ago just before Matthew Clark said that it was in possible takeover talks It values the company at pounds 215m. Matthew Clark’s board is recommending the bid.
Matthew Clark’s profits reached pounds 42.3m in 1996 at the height of the popularity of cider, but fell back to pounds 37.9m in the year to 30 April in spite of the acquisition of Taunton Cider. Profits are expected to fall further in the current year.The shares touched a peak of 801p two years ago, but fell to 134p last month. CANANDAIGUA, the New York-based beer, wine and spirits producer and wholesaler, yesterday agreed to pay 243p a share in cash for Matthew Clark, the UK drinks wholesaler and cider maker. However, Adair Turner, director general of the CBI, said the key date would not be when sterling notes and coins were phased out, but when the exchange rate was fixed and Britain came under a single European monetary policy.The founder members of the single currency will convert on 1 January 1999, but will not introduce notes and coins until 2002. Mr Turner said that in the UK’s case it would be possible to squeeze this three-year period but not eliminate it altogether..