M&S hit by non-food sales slump

MARKS & Spencer suffered its worst non-food sales for more than three years as a failure to buy the right stock compounded grim high street trends.

The retailer, which has more than 700 stores in the UK, blamed stock problems for a 6.8 per cent decline in clothing and general merchandise sales in the 13 weeks to June 30 - its worst performance since the quarter to December 2008.

With womenswear hit by high levels of promotions and the wet weather hitting sales of casual tops, non-food boss Kate Bostock will step down as the firm parachutes in former Debenhams chief Belinda Earl as style director to hone its range.

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Despite high profile adverts featuring celebrities such as Gary Barlow, overall UK like-for-like sales fell 2.8 per cent - also the worst performance for M&S for more than three years - even though food sales rose 0.6 per cent.

The dire sales will ramp up pressure on chief executive Marc Bolland at M&S’s annual meeting today amid expectations that many shareholders will vote against a pay package that could earn him as much as £6 million.