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Image source, Marks and Spencer

Marks and Spencer's chief executive says its annual results are better than they first appear, because the retailer is selling more clothes at full-price than it was before.

"The key thing was we said last year we would start to stop unnecessary discounting and that we reduce the number of sales in the business," Steve Rowe tells Today.

In the second half of the year, sales of full-price goods in clothing and homeware were actually 11% higher, he says.

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M&S's plans to open new food stores have received backing from independent shopper research agency Shoppercentric.

The agency's managing director Danielle Pinnington said: “Whilst profits are down, the strategy of increasing food stores and decreasing clothing makes sense given the clear position food has in shoppers’ repertoires.

"As a premium food retailer, M&S needs to ensure it draws on its experience during the recession to keep the offer relevant and appealing to shoppers who are starting to feel the pinch in their wallets.”

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A deeper look at the M&S results shows that clothing and home sales grew by 0.8% over Christmas, but in the quarter ended 1 April they were down 5.9% - and in the whole year down 3.4%.

M&S boss Steve Rowe says the decline in the quarter was partly because of the late Easter - which fell in April rather than March as it did last year.

The results in clothing are "in line with our expectations", he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.

M&S boss Steve Rowe strikes an upbeat note in the company's results, despite the retailer reporting a 64% fall in profits.

He said the company "remains on track" with its turnaround plans - announced last year - which include opening new food-only stores, selling clothing and homeware from fewer stores and cutting back on discounting.

"As we have made improvements to our clothing & home product and proposition, our customers have noticed; we are starting to stabilise market share and importantly have seen full price market share growth, as we removed excessive discounting. In addition, our new food stores continue to exceed our expectations," he said in the company's results, external.

"As we anticipated, the planned restructuring of M&S has come with a cost and has impacted profits, but the business is still strongly cash generative and we reduced our net debt."

Marks and Spencer has reported that statutory pre-tax profit fell 64% last year to £176.4m.

The retailer said that a decline in clothing sales and higher costs from opening new food stores were partly to blame for the fall.

Sales were flat across the business at £10.6bn in the year to the end of March 2017.

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Markets in China and Hong Kong headed south after ratings agency Moody's downgraded, external China's credit score, citing expectations that the mainland's financial strength will "erode somewhat" over the coming years.

But China's finance ministry said Moody's was exaggerating the mainland's economic difficulties and underestimating reform efforts.

The Shanghai composite was down by 0.36% while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was lower by 0.15%.

Over in Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up by 0.5% as yen weakness boosted earnings hope for corporate Japan.

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Opec, the oil exporters' group, is meeting at its headquarters in Vienna this week to discuss extending supply cuts in a bid to further boost oil prices.

But the cartel - which produces about a third of the world's oil - does not have the same control over prices as it once did.

"The problem for Opec is the swing producer is now the United States," Erik Norland, senior economist at the CME Group, tells Today.

US fracking produced an extra 900,000 barrels a day since the end of October, replacing about 60% of what Opec has cut this year, he says. A further 174 new oil rigs could bring another 600,000 barrels, which would fully replace the Opec cuts.

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It’s a busy day on the High Street, with several retailers updating the market to give a flavour of how shoppers are spending their cash.

The big announcement comes from Marks & Spencer, which unveils its full year results, with chief executive Steve Rowe attempting to paint a picture that all is rosy at the fashion and food business.

B&Q and Screwfix’s owner Kingfisher will give an update on whether Easter proved a hit or a flop for the DIY business, and Curry’s PC World’s owner Dixons Carphone will also reveal its latest numbers.

All the details hit at 7am and we will bring you the details.

Elsewhere, an employment tribunal continues between Deliveroo and its riders over their employment status, and RBS shareholders deliberate further over whether to go forward with court action.

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Wake Up to Money has been speaking to businesses in Manchester about how they coped after the terror attack on Monday night.

Will Rogers, who runs a shoe store in the city, says the worker bee sums up the approach of Mancunians to the attack.

The bee - which became the city's symbol during the industrial revolution when its hard-working mills were likened to hives - was used widely on social media yesterday after the bombing.

"It's a symbol of Manchester for a reason," he says. "It's a symbol of togetherness and hopefully everyone will get behind that and get behind Manchester again and get it back on its feet very quickly."

The UK terror threat level has been raised to its highest level of "critical" after the Manchester bombing.

It is only the third time the UK has reached the threat level, which will see military personnel deployed on the streets to protect key sites.

So far the market reaction to the heightened threat has been muted, with the pound largely flat against the dollar and euro.

For the latest updates follow the BBC's live coverage here. On this page we'll have the latest business and markets news.