M&S full-year profits nosedive as clothing struggles

Marks & Spencer has reported a heavy fall in profits over the year to 30 March, despite rising sales across the group as a whole.

Statutory pre-tax profits fell to 14% from £658m last year to £564.3m, although group sales rose 1.3% to £10bn over the reporting period. Underlying profit before tax was £665.2m, down 6% from the £705.9m reported last year. While underlying sales of food rose 1.7%, sales of general merchandise fell 4.1% in the year as the group's clothing offering continued to struggle. Total UK sales were up 0.9% over the period, while food was 3.9% higher and general merchandise sales fell by 2.4%. Like-for-like UK sales were 1% lower, while food was 1.7% up and general merchandise was 2.4% lowe...