M&S clothing sales hit by refusal to discount

Marks & Spencer has revealed a steeper drop in sales in its embattled clothing division after shunning discounts and seeing shopper demand hit by poor weather.

The high street chain said like-for-like sales in its general merchandise arm, which includes womenswear, fell 1.9% in its second quarter, following a 0.4% drop in the previous three months.

But its move not to join in widespread discounting on the high street helped boost underlying pre-tax profits by a better-than-expected 6.1% to £284 million in the six months to September 26.

On a statutory basis, profits were 22.7% lower at £216m.

M&S added that its new Sparks loyalty card had been “extremely successful”, with 1.8m customers signing up since its launch two weeks ago.

The group was also helped by another decent performance in its food division, with like-for-like sales ahead by 0.2% in its second quarter, although this marked a slight drop on the previous period.

M&S chief executive Marc Bolland said the group delivered “good underlying profit growth” and insisted the chain’s decision not to run discounts was the right move.

The group said trading conditions on the high street remained tough.

“We took the decision to focus on profitability and full-price sales,” Mr Bolland said.

M&S has also been making efforts to cut sourcing costs in the general merchandise business, which is helping push up profits.

A robust hike in online sales also helped the group in its first half, with M&S.com seeing sales surge by 34.2%.

But this failed to offset a hefty slide in comparable sales in its UK stores, down by 5% to 6% in the half year, according to the group.

M&S CEO Marc Bolland said the decision not to run discounts was the right one. Picture: PA.