Profits up 11% as M&S fashion sales improve

Marks and Spencer unveiled annual profits at the top end of expectations today after the improved quality, availability and fit of its clothing ranges tempted more customers into stores.

Britain’s biggest clothing retailer said group pre-tax profits rose 11.5% to £721.3m (€1.01bn) in the year to March 29, with clothing sales rising 10%.

Womenswear, menswear and lingerie all showed gains for the period, with M&S’s casualwear ranges showing a “particularly strong performance”.

The high street favourite reported slower sales growth in April as consumer confidence declined, leading to a fall in clothing sales.

M&S has been working to reinvent itself after enduring a three-year sales slump.

It has brought in new designers, switched to cheaper suppliers and rebranded segments of its fashion lines to help reverse the decline.

But recent economic and sales data have raised concerns among analysts that conditions on the high street are getting tougher, with shoppers tightening their purse strings.

Childrenswear again proved “disappointing” for the company. During the year M&S introduced a range of a David Beckham-branded clothes for children but these failed to rescue the overall flagging performance of childrenswear.

M&S said that the strong initial response to the England captain’s DB07 range had been maintained while schoolwear was showing signs of improvement.

Among the adult clothing ranges performing well were the Per Una collection for women and Blue Harbour menswear, which both showed strong year-on-year sales increases.