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Marks and Spencer has posted its highest profit in a decade after a big revival in its food and clothing divisions.
The 140-year-old retailer posted a profit before tax and adjusting items of £716mn for the year to March 30, beating analysts’ expectations and the £453mn it made the previous year. Group revenues rose by 9.4 per cent to £13bn.
M&S has been buoyed by its food and clothing and home divisions, with sales up 13 per cent and 5.3 per cent, respectively, as the company’s turnaround plans start to pay off.
After two decades of false dawns, chief executive Stuart Machin said: “Two years into our plan to reshape [the business] for growth we can see the beginnings of a new M&S.
“This trading momentum gives us wind in our sails, and confidence that our plan is working. We are becoming more relevant, to more people, more of the time.”
The company has been closing less profitable or productive stores that sold clothing, home and food products in recent years as it opened more of its popular food shops.
It has also modernised its clothing ranges and has been seeking to convince more shoppers to do a “full shop” with M&S rather than only visit for special occasions or top-ups.
M&S was among the fastest-growing supermarkets in the latest 12-week period, according to industry data from NIQ, beaten only by Lidl and Ocado. In April, it had a market share of 3.6 per cent compared with rival Waitrose at 3.8 per cent.
Clive Black, a retail analyst at Shore Capital, said he expected sales to continue to grow but did not expect such strong performance again this financial year.
“Given our record of delivering volume growth, market share and free cash flow we are confident that we will make further progress in 2024/25 and beyond,” M&S said.
