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Sales fall at Marks and Spencer Sales fall at Marks and Spencer
(10 minutes later)
Marks and Spencer has reported a 4.2% fall in UK like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks to 28 March. Marks and Spencer has reported a fall in sales for the fourth consecutive quarter and admitted that the outlook remains "uncertain".
However, the drop was not as large as that seen in the previous quarter, when sales fell by 7.1%. M&S said like-for-like sales in the UK - which strip out the impact of store openings and closures - were down 4.2% for the 13 weeks to 28 March.
Executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose said he was confident M&S was doing "the right things for our customers" but added the outlook remained "uncertain". Executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose said he was confident M&S was doing "the right things for our customers".
In January, M&S announced 1,200 job cuts. It plans to close 25 Simply Food stores and two of its regular stores. In January, M&S announced 1,200 job cuts and plans to close 27 stores.
It intends to close 25 of its Simply Food stores and two of its regular stores.
The decline in sales over the past three months was not as large as that seen in the previous quarter, when sales fell by 7.1%, and was a better result than analysts had been expecting.
Like-for-like food sales were down 3.7%, while general merchandise sales fell 4.2%.
Overall group sales were up 1.9%, with significant increases seen in online and international sales.