M&S sales and profits fall due to weak clothing sales
Marks & Spencer’s sales and profits fell during its half-year following poor performance in its clothing and home ranges.
The department store chain’s sales dipped 2.1% to £4.8bn and profit before tax and adjusting items tumbled 17.1% to £176.5m for the 26 weeks to September 28.
Clothing and home like-for-like sales were down 5.5% and total sales were down 7.8%, which the retailer attributed to supply chain and fit issues.
The retailer said it has focused on new ranges, price and availability. Following a trial, M&S relaunched its own brand Per Una in October. Customer reaction to the new ranges has been “encouraging” M&S said.
Food like-for-like sales registered a 0.9% uptick “driven by volume”. Online sales at M&S.com increased 0.2%, though this less than it had planned for.
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