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Some progress in General Merchandise and an excellent performance in Food
• Group sales +3.3% *
• Total UK sales +2.7%:Food +4.5%; GM +0.5%
• Like-for-like UK sales +0.3%:Food +1.8%; GM –1.6%
• International sales +8.7% *
• M&S.com sales +29.9%
Marc Bolland, Chief Executive that the company’s “General Merchandise business showed some improvement this quarter and the Food business delivered another excellent performance, continuing the strong underlying trend.
“Our International business also performed well during the quarter and M&S.com sales were very strong” and that they will “continue to make good progress with our plans to transform M&S into an international, multi-channel retailer.”
In General Merchandise the company argue that they “have seen some improvement, despite difficult trading conditions and further intensification of promotional activity in the market”. Tight management of the business has resulted in a clean stock position at the end of the quarter.
Food business had “another excellent quarter” with sales growing “well ahead of the market”, as customers chose us as the destination shop for special occasions as well as everyday quality they can trust.
The company’s international business “performed well across most of the markets we trade in, especially in our key markets of India, China and the Middle East”. While the macro-economic issues in some parts of Europe are still impacting sales, our performance in this region has started to stabilise in some areas.
Marks and Spencer Group plc will report its half year results on 5 November 2013.
