Marks & Spencer makes progress
High street icon focusses on profitable full price sales, better buying and tight control of stocks and costs.
UK Retail Sales for the 12 weeks to 1 October 2005 were up 3.3 per cent in total with General Merchandise up 0.4 per cent and Food up 6.3per ent. Within this Clothing was +0.2 per cent and Home +2.1 per cent.
Like for like sales were up 1.3 per cent in total compared with a decrease of 5.4 per cent last quarter. General Merchandise like for like sales were down 0.2 per cent against a decrease of 11.2 per cent last quarter. Food like for like sales were up 2.7 per cent compared with an increase of 0.7 per cent last quarter. Full price sales of General Merchandise were up 0.4 per cent against a decrease of 2.4 per cent last quarter.
Stuart Rose, Chief Executive said “This is an [img r]stuartrose.jpg[/img]encouraging performance, but there remains much to be done. The environment remains very difficult and we have the important Christmas trading period ahead. We are making progress. We are listening to our customers and feedback has been positive. The product is getting better, our stores are looking better. We are offering our customers better value. This will remain our focus.’
