M&S half-year profits surged as clothing and food sales continued to soar, delivering their fourth consecutive year of market share growth.
Profit before tax and adjusting items was up more than 17% at the retail giant for the half ended 28 September, hitting £407.8m.
Sales climbed 5.8% to £6.52bn. Food revenue jumped 8.1% and adjusted operating profit in the division rose more than a third (34.5%) to £213.1m as it witnessed its “strongest value perception in over a decade”.
Clothing and home sales advanced 4.7% and profit edged up 0.5% to £242.2m.
The retailer noted its new and renewed UK stores were trading ahead of forecast, as it ploughed ahead with increasing site acquisition.
Despite the stellar results, M&S CEO Stuart Machin said there was still much to do for the retailer.
He said: “The easy thing to do today would simply be to say that these are good results, but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. In the spirit of being positively dissatisfied, we have so much to do over this year and beyond. Despite our strong trading momentum, there is much more opportunity for future growth and that energises us.”
Machin said with clothing in growth, “now is the time to seize the opportunity in other categories including home and beauty”.
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It will also seek to accelerate its transformation and reimagine its proposition in clothing and home online as “progress to date has been slower than we would have liked, so we must accelerate delivery”.
The retailer is also “resetting priorities” in international to drive future growth and improve short-term performance.
Machin also flagged how the Budget added a layer of uncertainty for the retailer.
“The recent Budget’s long-term impact on M&S, our suppliers, and our customers is for now uncertain. Meanwhile, we are confident and we remain on track and focused on what is in our control.
“We have the best Christmas food range I’ve seen in my time at M&S and the most stylish seasonal clothing offer yet, and we know customers are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with M&S,” he added.
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