Letter to Shareholders

Marks & Spencer PLC
23 May 2000

The following letter is being mailed to all shareholders:


Dear Shareholder,

By the time you receive this letter, you may have heard
news of our Preliminary Results. London Stock Exchange
rules prohibit individual communication before the public
announcement, so I wanted to write as soon as possible to
explain the difficult but unanimous decision we have
taken on the dividend, and also to talk about the
business and my optimism for the future of Marks &
Spencer.

I feel fortunate to have joined a company with an
unparalleled tradition of quality, service and value,
supported by a tremendously loyal following of
shareholders, employees and customers. Long before I
joined, Peter Salsbury and his team had recognised the
need for change, and had already put in place an
ambitious programme to recover acceptable levels of
performance and profitability.

We are all committed to achieving a sustainable recovery
for Marks & Spencer. I fully support the changes Peter
and his team have put in place; my role is to help them
achieve the objectives we have identified.  It will take
more time to realise the full benefits of these changes,
but the positive effects are beginning to show. I am even
more certain now, than when I arrived 3 months ago, that
we can succeed.

To do that, we must be prepared to increase our
investment in the business, thereby establishing a strong
platform for future growth and increased shareholder
value.

I ask you to accept, with us, the reality of our
financial performance. We have taken the difficult, but
necessary, decision to propose a total dividend of 9.0p
per share, an amount equal to our total net profit for
last year. We understand that this decision may be
unpopular, but it is the only responsible choice.  Had we
not taken this decision, we would be borrowing against
our future. For the same reason, we have also reduced our
employee profit sharing scheme, believing that it's only
fair for all of us to share the pain and contribute to
the recovery.

The decision on the dividend, along with the other
profound changes taking place throughout the Company,
will help us to create a much stronger business for our
customers, employees, business partners, and especially
for you, our shareholder.

Yours sincerely,


Luc Vandevelde
Chairman