[Image courtesy of www.marksandspencer.com]
CBI member Marks & Spencer (M&S) recently released its trading statement for the fourth quarter of 2011/12, reporting double digit growth in strategic international markets, including China and India.
Marc Bolland, Chief Executive of M&S, said, "Marks & Spencer continued to make progress in a challenging market. Group sales grew by 0.8%, and U.K. sales grew by 1.2%. Our Food business has again performed well, especially in healthy food, whilst the General Merchandise performance was more mixed.
"Direct had another strong quarter with sales up 22.8% through a number of new initiatives delivering an improved customer shopping experience.
"Strategic international markets, including India and China, delivered double digit growth, but we continue to experience macro-economic pressure and restructuring in some parts of Europe.
"We have continued to manage costs tightly, and are confident of delivering full year profits in line with expectations. While the short term trading outlook continues to be challenging, we are focused on investing in line with our plan and are making strong progress against our goal of becoming an international, multi-channel retailer."
Please click here to read the full press release by M&S.
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