Marks and Spencer (M&S) reported group sales up 16.2 per cent to £9.26bn for the 26 weeks to 26 September 2026, in interim results published on 4 November. Adjusted profit before tax rose to £403.2m from £184.1m a year earlier, when the business was disrupted by a cyber incident. Statutory profit before tax was £355.1m, against £3.4m.
Online and stores
Fashion, Home & Beauty sales rose 17.5 per cent to £2.0bn, with like-for-like sales up 17.3 per cent. Online sales in the division grew 84.6 per cent to £705.7m, while store sales fell 2.0 per cent to £1.29bn.
Against the first half of 2024/25, before the incident, online sales were up 11.2 per cent, adjusted for M&S’s exit from bulky furniture. Online now accounts for 35 per cent of the division’s sales, up from 33 per cent. Store sales were 5.2 per cent lower than two years ago, which M&S put down to demand moving online during the prolonged summer heat.
The division’s adjusted operating margin was 7.5 per cent, compared with 12.0 per cent in the first half of 2024/25. M&S said a higher mix of online sales, with higher fulfilment costs, and product availability problems following the incident held back profit. The online margin was 6.0 per cent and the store margin 8.4 per cent.
M&S said fulfilment and returns volumes have grown faster than sales as demand has shifted towards categories with higher returns rates. It is investing in its Lichfield distribution centre, a new dedicated returns warehouse in Sheffield and extra capacity at Castle Donington.
Food, International and Ocado
Food sales rose 13.9 per cent, with volumes up 11.9 per cent. International sales grew 22.1 per cent, with online and marketplace sales up 63.8 per cent on 2024/25, helped by the Zalando and Amazon marketplaces. Ocado Retail, in which M&S has a stake, grew sales by 20.6 per cent.
Outlook
Chief executive Stuart Machin said the end-to-end transformation of Fashion, Home & Beauty is “in the foothills”. M&S expects that division to improve in the second half as availability recovers, and full-year adjusted profit before tax to be in line with market expectations. The interim dividend rises 16.7 per cent to 1.4p.
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