High street retailer reveals 2.7% increase in group sales, with online seeing a 30% boost.
Marks and Spencer reported a 2.7% increase in group sales for the 13 weeks to September 26. UK sales rose 1.9%, while general merchandise sales were up 2.2% for the period, with home down 1.8%. UK like-for-like sales were down 0.5%, with general merchandise down 0.8%.

Chairman Sir Stuart Rose explained that "there is more visibility in the marketplace and consumers appear more confident". However, he added that the company remains cautious about the outlook for 2010.

"We are pleased to report continuing improvement in our performance. This demonstrates that the actions we are taking are working... We expect 2010 to be a tough year and we will continue to run the business accordingly."

M&S Direct, the retailers online offer, had another strong quarter with sales up 30%. The company expects its full year gross margin to be 50 to 100 basis points lower than last year.

Looking to the all-important Christmas trading period, M&S has announced it will recruit an additional 20,000 seasonal employees.