Marks & Spencer boosted by increase in food sales
Marks & Spencer increased its UK like-for-like sales by 0.2% in its third quarter after food like-for-like sales rose by 1.4%.
General merchandise sales dropped by 1.7% but showed an improvement on the first half of the financial year as customers responded well to the retailer’s autumn ranges.
Steve Rowe, M&S chief executive, said: “We delivered an improved performance in Q3 across both main businesses. The food business continued to outperform the market and clothing and home had a strong start to the quarter, albeit this was followed by a challenging trading environment in the lead up to Christmas.
“As we drive a faster pace of change, disappointing one-off issues – notably waste and supply chain in the food business, the shape of buy in menswear and performance in our gifting categories – held us back from delivering a stronger result. However, the changes we made earlier in the year in clothing have arrested the worst of the issues of the first six months and we are progressively building a much stronger team for the future.”
M&S said its clothing and home UK online revenue was up 1.5% in the quarter, which was lower than expected. Revenue was affected by competitor discounting in December and lower furniture dispatches at the start of the period.
International sales fell by 2.3% in the period.
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Photo by Georgia Hawkins.
