M&S Sales Drown in Summer Rain

Marks & Spencer reported on luke-warm trading for the first quarter (to end June) in London last week. While group sales were up by 7 percent, UK same-store sales only managed an increase of 2 percent. Of this, clothing and home was up 2.9 percent and food added just 0.7 percent. Internationally, however, sales were up by 14.8 percent during the period, with 10 store openings, including the first stores in Lithuania, Taiwan, and Ukraine.