Discounts boost M&S Christmas sales

The company also revealed that it expected trading conditions to stay challenging.

Britain’s biggest clothing retailer said it was making additional cost savings to offset a fall in profit margins due to the discounting.

Sales at British stores open over a year rose 0.5 per cent excluding VAT sales tax in the 13 weeks to December 31, its financial third quarter.

That included a 1.8 per cent fall in general merchandise sales and a three per cent rise in food sales, against forecasts for a fall of 1.5 per cent and a rise of 1.5 per cent respectively.

In its second quarter, Marks & Spencer reported a 0.7 per cent fall in underlying British sales.