Marks & Spencer: After another bad set of numbers will it be able to Rowe into smoother waters?

Get into the swing of summer, the Marks & Spencer website declares brightly, but there was nothing bright or swinging about its latest numbers.

They remain stuck in the middle of winter and it would take a lot more than one of its woollies to warm them up.

This was once a company that broke the £1bn profit barrier. This time round they limped in at £176m before tax for the year ending 1 April, a fall of close to two thirds on the previous (disappointing) 12 months.

The chief cause was £437m of one-off restructuring charges relating to chief executive Steve Rowe’s turnaround plan.

But even if you strip them out of the numbers – which is what companies like you to do when they’re doing badly – earnings still fell by 11 per cent to £614m.

Remember the brief flowering of hope that came with the retailer’s third quarter, when clothing and home sales ticked up 2.3 per cent? The perennial problem with M&S is that every time it seems to be taking a step forward like that, it goes on to take two steps back.

The most recent three month reporting period saw sales deep in the red again. They were down 5.9 per cent at outlets open at least a year, which was much worse than analysts had predicted. Dowdy like its clothes?

Of course there’s always M&S food! The part of the business the boss hopes he can use to Rowe the retailer to a brighter future. The shining star in M&S's dark sky.

Not this time: sales declined by 2.1 per cent during the most recent three months.

There will soon be a new sheriff in town in the form of Archie Norman. The hard charging incoming chairman has quite the reputation, with shake ups at Asda and ITV on his CV.

M&S could put that reputation at risk. It's arguably an even bigger challenge.

Joining him will be Jill McDonald, to run the struggling womenswear business (well, clothing and home, but we all know what counts) for Mr Rowe. Looking at this, she might be wondering whether she really should have left Halfords. On the other hand, there’s nothing like low expectations to ease you into a new job.

Are there any crumbs of comfort for Mr Rowe, Mr Norman and Ms McDonald to grab on to?

Mr Rowe listed eight points under the headline “progress against our strategic priorities”.

At the top, drum roll please: a clear view of what our customers expect from M&S and what we stand for, supported by our unified brand message, “Spend It Well”.

Oh dear. Is that supposed to fire up the troops after the company restructured pay to make it “fairer”, infuriating unions and some of the longest serving, most loyal staff in the process?

While M&S is just about the last remaining big generalist high street retailer, its doom is not inevitable. It’s making a lot less money than it once was, but it is still making money. People have turned around retailers in apparently more difficult positions.

If Mr Rowe can turn this one around he’ll be hailed as a hero. But he needs to show something better than this, and he needs to do it soon.