British retailing giant Marks and Spencer (M&S) has today reported like-for-like sales, which strip out new store openings, grew 0.1% in the 13 week period to 2 April.
The figures were marginally better than expected and sent shares up 13.3p today to 353.5p.
The 127-year-old retailer which sells clothes, food and homewares said general merchandise fell 3.9% but this was offset by a 3.4% rise in food sales.
Chief executive Marc Bolland described it as a good quarter “in a challenging trading environment”.
However, like many other retailers, the company said the coming year will be challenging due to rising inflation and the Government’s spending cuts which will put pressure on consumers.
In a statement today, the company said: “We expect 2011-12 to be increasingly challenging due to pressure on consumers’ disposable incomes and higher commodity prices. As a result, we are cautious about the outlook.”