Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) has finally seen an upturn in like-for-like (LFL) General Merchandise sales, while the online offering has returned to growth.
General Merchandise (GM) sales in the 13 weeks to 28 March were up 0.7% on a LFL basis, defying expectations in some quarters of the market of a small fall.
M&S.com's sales were up 13.8% from a year earlier, while the usually impressive Food division kept up the good work, with LFL sales up 0.7% in what was described as "another strong performance in a difficult market".
Marc Bolland, chief executive of Marks & Spencer (M&S) said: "We have made strong progress over the quarter.
"In Food we delivered another excellent performance, with sales growth ahead of the market. We continued to deliver on General Merchandise gross margin, and are pleased that we have achieved this whilst also improving General Merchandise sales. M&S.com has returned to growth, as planned, with further improvement in customer metrics."
Bolland said the company's Spring/Summer ranges have been well-received, and that, as planned, the company has been discounting less this year than previously, despite stock levels being higher than normal heading into Christmas as a result of the unseasonably warm weather at the tail-end of 2014.
M&S will report its full year results on 20 May 2015.