British retailer Marks & Spencer has beaten forecasts with flat quarterly underlying sales. The group also said it was confident of coping with cost pressures in an increasingly tough market.
Britain's biggest clothing retailer, which also sells upmarket foods and homewares, said sales at UK stores open for more than a year rose 0.1% in the 13 weeks to April 2, its fourth financial quarter.
That was down from a 2.8% increase in the third quarter, but above analyst forecasts for a fall of 2% to 4%. Stripping out the impact of adverse calendar effects, underlying sales were up 2.2%.
International sales grew by 12.6%, and the company said strong performances in most of its markets were offset by difficult conditions in Ireland and Greece.
Marks & Spencer (M&S) joined the ranks of British retailers to warn that trading conditions will get tougher as shoppers are hit by British government austerity measures, rising prices and worries about higher interest rates.
But it forecast that its gross profit margins for 2011-12 would be slightly higher as it takes unspecified steps to mitigate an expected 5% rise in operating costs.
