Marks & Spencer Posts Improved Retail Sales Despite Economy, Weather

UK High Street retailer Marks & Spencer unveiled increased like-for-like retail sales over the Christmas period despite a challenging economic climate and as other retailers have issued profit warnings due to weather and snow disruption.

The UK retailer reported a 2.8 percent like-for-like rise in sales for the last 13 weeks of 2010, and said that its mid- and higher-priced ranges performed well despite the economic and weather backdrop.

Marks & Spencer's improved sales performance comes as other UK retail groups, such as Mothercare and Clinton Cards, have been forced to issue profit warnings after struggling to lift sales of late.

A timely report, entitled "UK Town Centre Retailing", assesses the market value and growth potential, including forecasts to 2014, for UK towns and shopping centers, and includes a performance review of newly-opened shopping centers, such as Union Square in Aberdeen and The Rock in Bury.

The report also profiles the top 100 UK shopping destinations by 12 criteria including vacancy rates, size, proportion of AB shoppers and the shopping population.

It also analyses the changing role of UK town centers and their evolution to more leisure-based centers among other key findings.

Author: Justin Cole, analyst.