Marks and Spencer Q4 group sales up 3.1 percent

Marks and Spencer reported its fourth quarter trading

statement ended March 30, 2013. The group delivered the strongest quarterly sales growth in the last two years. Group sales increased by 3.1 percent, total UK sales increased by 2.6 percent, multi-channel sales increased 22.9 percent. International sales increased 7 percent. Mobile sales grew by over 70 percent on last year.

Marc Bolland, Chief Executive, said: “We continue to make good progress in transforming Marks & Spencer from a traditional UK retailer to an international multi-channel retailer. We are working hard on improving our performance in general merchandise and, despite difficult trading conditions, we made progress in our operational execution. We delivered an excellent result in food. Multi-channel sales growth accelerated and our international business also performed well during the quarter. Customers are responding well to better editing of our spring/summer product ranges particularly our recent Perfectly campaign.”

The franchise business in the Middle East delivered a good performance and, in Asia, India and China continued to trade strongly. Despite the macro-economic issues in some of the legacy markets, the company’s performance in Europe improved in the quarter.

The new web platform is on track to launch in spring 2014. The company expects the pressure on consumers’ disposable incomes to continue throughout 2013. As a result it’s cautious about the outlook for the year ahead.