The revitalised Marks and Spencer delivered strong sales over the Christmas period, outperforming close retail rivals who have fallen victim to faltering consumer demand.
Group like-for-like sales rose seven percent in the 15 weeks to January 11th, with food up four per cent and non-food sales up 8.8 per cent, broadly in line with expectations and beating close rivals such as clothing retailer Next.
Clothing sales grew 9.8 per cent, a slowdown from the previous quarter but up against testing year ago comparisons when its recovery took off.
However, Britain's biggest clothing retailer cautioned that it had cut prices to shift some unsold stock. It estimated full-year markdown costs would be five per cent higher than last year.
Marks and Spencer has weathered some of the market downturn after improving stores and switching to cheaper foreign suppliers, and new designers which have hauled it out of a three year sales slump.
The group's shares closed at 323p yesterday, having outperformed domestic sector peers by 14 per cent in the last 12 months.