M&S sees clothing sales fall over Christmas period

Marks and Spencer has reported its 14th consecutive quarterly drop in clothing sales, blaming unseasonal autumn weather.

The retailer said like-for-like general merchandise sales - which are mainly clothing - fell 5.8% in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, online sales fell 5.9%, despite a revamped website.

M&S chief executive Marc Bolland said the company had a "difficult quarter in general merchandise".

On Thursday morning M&S shares were the worst performing on the FTSE 100, falling around 4.6% by mid-morning trading.

In October and November trading was adversely affected by "unseasonal" mild weather, which had a negative impact on sales, the company said.

In December, disruption at M&S' Castle Donington online sales distribution centre badly affected online sales, which in turn hit general merchandise sales in the month.

Like-for-like clothing sales in the quarter were down 5.3%. This decline was mainly due to mild weather, with knitwear sales particularly affected.

The firm holds 14% of the UK market for women's knitwear, and 13% of the men's knitwear market.

For womenswear as a whole, M&S has 10.1% of the market, and 26.5% of the lingerie market.

The company said it had a "good performance" in terms of its profit margin by avoiding heavy discounting in December.

The firm also reported record sales for festive food.

'Dismal'

"M&S had a very good Christmas in food. We delivered record Christmas sales, strongly outperforming the market," Mr Bolland said.

Analyst firm Conlumino called the M&S trading data a "dismal set of figures".

"When it last updated the market back in November, M&S's numbers were showing some signs of improvement," said Conlumino managing director Neil Saunders.

"Unfortunately, this dismal set of figures indicates this momentum has not been carried through into the Christmas quarter.

"Even more discouraging is the fact that the progress from Christmas 2013, when M&S presented a fairly sound set of trading numbers, has not been built upon," he said.

All UK clothing retailers had been affected by warm weather in autumn, leading to discounting, especially on Black Friday, Mr Saunders said.

However, M&S had been let down by its online distribution problems, he continued.

"This Christmas online was a critical channel for growth, accounting for a higher proportion of sales than ever before.

"Unfortunately, M&S's logistical problems meant that it could not properly enjoy the fruits of this growth."