 fell on Wednesday morning after the retailer reported a fall in clothing and food sales for the half-year.){kind=link}
Marks & Spencer shares (LON:MKS) fell on Wednesday morning after the retailer reported a fall in clothing and food sales for the half-year.
Like-for-like sales, which does not include new stores, were down 2.2% for the six months to September-end. Food sales were down 2.9% and clothing and home sales fell 1.1% during the period.
Marks & Spencer has been struggling as of late, amid a challenging retail climate, with their clothing division commanding disappointing sales.
Whilst M&S had seen some improvement in clothing sales with the hiring of TV presenter Holly Willoughby to pick out a clothing edit, popular clothing lines proved unavailable quickly.
“We are letting customers down with availability,” said M&S chief executive Steve Rowe. “We have some good products this season and the ranges are improving, but we are still in a position where we are buying too many [clothing] lines. The range is too broad and too shallow.”
Over the course of the year, Marks & Spencer have announced a string of store closures as it looks to streamline its business.
Nevertheless, amid another disappointing set of results, the retailer did not rule out further closures as it looks to implement cost-saving initiatives.
Similarly supermarket rival Waitrose, owned by the John Lewis Partnership, announced the closure of various underperforming sites back in June.
Shares in Marks & Spencer -2.58% as of 12.29PM (GMT).