M&S sales fall, but food sales rise

Sales at Marks & Spencer have fallen for the six months to 26 September.

UK like-for-like sales fell by 0.4 per cent for the period, and while sales of general merchandise, which includes the clothing division, were down by 1.2 per cent, food sales rose by 0.2 per cent.

The retailer said underlying profits rose by 6.1 per cent to £284 million, although after taking into account one-off items, pre-tax profit fell 22.7 per cent to £216m.

Those one-off items included almost £27m on revamping UK stores and £22m on European store costs.

M&S noted that it plans to concentrate on increasing food sales, gross margins and cash generation.