The chief executive of M&S, Steve Rowe, has said that his company’s performance “remains unsatisfactory” when it comes to clothing and home.

In a mixed performance, food sales continued to outperform the market, with sales up 4%, growing market share to 4.3% and with the company’s new store opening programme performing ahead of expectations, having opened 80 stores in the year. Meanwhile, sales of clothing and home were down 1.9%, although online sales were up 8.2% with further improvement in customer satisfaction.
This was exacerbated by price deflation and a flat market. In order to counter this, M&S said that it had made improvements in its range and designs as well as “sharpening prices”.

However, it added that “although these actions contributed to the sales run rate improving since the last quarter, we still have a number of areas to address”.

Mr Rowe commented: “I am very proud and privileged to be leading M&S.  We are focused on getting even closer to our customers and putting them at the heart of everything we do.
“We had a mixed performance in the final quarter of the year.

"Our Food business once again outperformed the market by c.3.5% pts. Although the sales decline in Clothing and Home was lower than last quarter, our performance remains unsatisfactory and there is still more we need to do.  

“Turning around our Clothing and Home business by improving our customer offer is our number one priority. I will update you on my thoughts on the business in May.”