Hot snacks at Marks & Spencer

MARKS & Spencer is to offer shoppers takeaway hot food and drinks for the first time.

The company has announced it will take on the likes of Starbucks by selling pizzas, toasted panini sandwiches and gourmet coffee to go.

It will also enter the lucrative online grocery shopping market for the first time.

The news came as M& S announced a huge 19.6 per cent rise in profits for the first half of the year to £308million.

It also emerged yesterday that designer George Davies, who announced last month that he was leaving the company’s Per Una division, is to stay on. M& S’s recovery has been dramatic following two years of decline. An autumn advertising campaign featuring Twiggy and four other leading models has helped boost womenswear sales.

But the firm’s star performer has been its food range, which saw sales rise 6.3per cent in the last three months. It has also made recipe changes to 450 ready meals to remove hydrogenated fat, considered a health risk, and other chemicals.

Chief executive Stuart Rose said: ‘ We are selling a range of products which are completely additive and preservative free. Nobody else has got that.’

The forthcoming move into online grocery shopping has been made possible by a deal with the Internet firm Amazon. M& S is also speeding up its store refurbishment programme and will be spending £500million on revamps next year, dumping its green livery and ‘jumble sale’ displays in favour of deep reds and white shelves.

The decision by George Davies to stay is a significant fillip.

Explaining the designer’s sudden change of heart, Mr Rose said: ‘Both of us sat down in the cold light of day last week and we both said, “ Actually, we’d quite like to stay together” and that’s what we’ve agreed to do.

‘ It’s a bit like having a row with your girlfriend. If you still love her at the end of the day you still love her – and we love each other.’

City – Page 65