MARKS & SPENCER has delivered some of its best results in almost three decades. The high street giant says it has gained a million new customers — providing its healthiest finances since 1997. 4 More fashionable womenswear has helped to lift M&S clothes sales by 5.
9% 4 M&S performance stats from the past 28 years And upbeat boss Stuart Machin hailed the news by ruling out using the chain’s Sparks rewards scheme to join a “tricksy” low-price promotions war. Loyalty cards have become a big weapon in retail, with Sainsbury's and Tesco offering members lower prices to combat the threat of Aldi and Lidl. But Mr Machin said he had just spent six years trying to ditch confusing discounts that make shoppers reluctant to pay full price.
And he vowed: “At M&S we don’t do tricksy pricing. So we won’t be doing Sparks pricing. “We don’t think giving special prices to Sparks customers — and not giving them to everyone — is being a trusted retailer.
” Total M&S sales rose by 9.3 per cent to £13billion in the year to March — as its pre-tax profits shot up 41 per cent to £672.5million.
The City has bought into the turnaround of the iconic 140-year-old British name. Its shares, which rose by as much as six per cent yesterday, have climbed by 76 per cent in the past year to 287.8p — leaving the company valued at £5.
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