Marks & Spencer (M&S) has announced that it experienced a better first half of the year in 2009 compared with 2008, as adjusted profit before tax climbed slightly to £298.3m (€331.5m) from £297.8m (€330.9m) last year.
Group sales for the six-month period ended September 2009 climbed 2.8m per cent to £4.3bn (€4.8bn), the group said, with growth in both the UK market (1.8 per cent) and international markets (12.2 per cent).
However, UK like-for-like sales fell 0.9 per cent compared with the same period of 2008, with food sales dropping 0.3 per cent and general merchandise down 1.4 per cent.
'We are pleased with our first half performance,' said group chairman Sir Stuart Rose. 'Our strong customer offer, together with tight management of costs and margin, has allowed us to report on a profit slightly ahead of last year, despite a challenging economic environment.
'We have had a good start to the third quarter,' he added. 'However, the market remains competitive and, as we came up against volatile trading conditions last year, we remain cautious about the outlook for Christmas and the year ahead.'
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