The results mean that the company has delivered 20 consecutive quarters of like-for-like growth. The food gross margin was up 25bps (0.25%) at 32.7% due to savings delivered as a result of operational efficiencies.
In the first half of the year, Marks and Spencer’s launched over 1,000 new lines including the ‘Taste’ range of prepared meals as well as new categories such as frozen meals.
The company has utilised a strategy to be more specialist and focus on quality and innovation to separate them from the competition. An improvement in on-shelf availability, operational cost efficiencies and gross margin have also been revealed in the report.
The report reads: “While the competition continues to improve in the supermarket space, rather than joining the race to the bottom on price, we are focused on developing top-quality ranges that are competitively priced, whilst ensuring our farmers get a fair deal too.”
Despite increases in Marks and Spencers food sales, the company has seen decreases in its online sales (down 6.3% over the first half of the year), clothing sales (down 1.6%, with like-for-like sales down 2.2%) and general merchandise (down 2.3%, with like-for-like sales down 2.9%).
Marks and Spencer Group say that they remain cautious about the outlook for the remainder of the year, but are feeling confident that they are well set up for the Christmas trading period.
The company will update on their third quarter sales on January 8th 2015.