Marks & Spencer sales surge over Christmas, boosted by bumper food division
9 January 2025, 08:34
The retailer saw a record sales day for its food department during the festive period.
Marks & Spencer’s sales surged 5.6% compared with the third quarter of 2023, which includes the vital Christmas trading period.
The retailer saw £4.06 billion in sales for the three months to December 28, just under two-thirds of which came from its food division, which saw its biggest ever trading day during the period.
M&S food sales grew 8.7% year-on-year, compared with just 1% sales growth across its clothing, home and beauty departments.
Chief executive Stuart Machin has led a turnaround in the business since joining in 2022, which has included spending money on larger food stores to bolster its most profitable line.
However, its clothing division also saw its best ever online weekly sales total, marking a striking comeback from being seen as unfashionable for much of the last decade.
Mr Machin said: “This was another good Christmas for M&S, building on a strong performance in the prior year.
“Sales records were broken across the business, with food recording its biggest day and clothing, home and beauty online its biggest week, but we’re not complacent – as a growth business it’s our job to break records.
“The external environment remains challenging, with cost and economic headwinds to navigate, but there is much within our control.”
Mr Machin warned before Christmas that measures in the October budget would hit Marks & Spencer’s bottom line to the tune of £120 million, and refused to rule out price rises to offset the extra costs.
The retailer said on Thursday that the outlook for economic growth and inflation remains “uncertain”, adding that the business faces “higher costs from well-documented increases in taxation”.
“However there remain substantial opportunities and we are focused on what is within our control, as we reshape M&S for growth.”
The vast majority of sales come from M&S’s UK and Ireland business, which recorded a 6.4% like-for-like sales rise.
Its international sales came in at £178 million, a 2.8% drop compared with last year.
