Marc Bolland in danger of having his glass half-empty He certainly is. Who else, when confronted with a 16pc fall in pre-tax profits could blame a bit of local difficulty in Greece, the Czech Republic, the tough UK high street, and say they that profits were "more or less flat," when you strip out exceptional items. But one thing Mr Bolland has mastered is the art of expectation management. The shares rose yesterday, on a day when profits fell pretty heavily, the dividend was held, and the company was forced to cut back substantially its growth plans. That's quite some trick. It is true that when Mr Bolland arrived and set some ambitious targets for M&S two years ago, the world was very different. Economists were predicting UK GDP would increase by 2.2pc in 2011. In the event it only increased by 0.7pc. And while Greece is in complete meltdown, it is hardly a core part of the group's international business. But blaming the economy for all of its problems doesn't quite wash. The key problem is that M&S - despite just about holding on to its overall market share for clothing - is losing female customers, especially those under the age of 55. These are shoppers that made M&S's fortunes and one of the world's most successful retailers. But they are drifting away to supermarkets, to Next, to Asos, to Primark. Without strong sales of men's suits and children's wear M&S would have suffered a pretty calamitous fall in sales. Mr Bolland needs to arrest this slide, otherwise he will be staring into a half-empty glass this time next year.