The British retail group Marks & Spencer Plc is still on the upswing after extensive reforms. On Thursday, the group reported strong sales growth in the Christmas business in an interim report and revised its profit forecast for the current financial year 2021/22 upwards again.
In the 13 weeks leading up to January 1st, the group’s sales were according to preliminary figures at 3.27 billion British pounds (3.92 billion euros), 18.5 percent above the corresponding figure for the previous year. The company was also able to significantly exceed the comparable level of the pre-crisis year 2019/20 (+8.6 percent).
All divisions contributed to the growth: In the grocery store in Great Britain, sales rose by 10.0 percent to 1.91 billion British pounds compared to the same period of the previous year, in the Clothing & Home segment they even rose by 37.7 percent to 1.08 billion British pounds Pound. Compared to the pre-crisis level, the division, which has been ailing for years, increased its sales by 3.2 percent. In international business, sales grew year-on-year by 17.4 percent on a currency-neutral basis to £ 272 million.
In a press release, CEO Steve Rowe praised the overall “strong sales development”, but above all emphasized the upward trend in the Clothing & Home segment: This had “achieved growth in the second quarter in a row, to which robust increases in the online business and with products that were not reduced in price contributed” Rowe explained.
In view of the positive development in the past few months, the group was even more optimistic about its profit expectations than before: The pre-tax profit adjusted for one-off effects is expected to reach “at least” 500 million British pounds in the current financial year, the company said. The previous forecast, raised in November, had only given a result “in the range” of £ 500 million in prospect.