M&S are suffering a drop in sales blamed on the cold weather earlier this year, but share holders think the designs may be at fault
Marks and Spencer’s clothing revival was short lived after another drop in sales.
Boss Marc Bolland got a boost when M&S delivered its first rise in clothing takings in four years at the start of the year.
But he suffered another setback after general merchandise - mainly clothes - dropped 0.4% in the 13 weeks to the end of June.
Bolland blamed the latest fall on cold weather in May impacting demand for its spring and summer collections.
That said, it was much less than the 1% slide the market was expecting.
Meanwhile, quarterly food sales grew by 0.3% when rival grocers have posted declines and its online arm jumped 38.7%.
Bolland insisted: “We continue to make progress against our key priorities.”
It came as Bolland and the rest of the M&S board faced a grilling at the company’s annual general meeting yesterday.
Clothing is key to M&S’s success, with big efforts made to improve its designs and sourcing.
A collection by actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has also been a hit.
But shareholders lined-up to criticise its ranges.
One said: “Your patterns look like somebody’s had a bad dream, got out of bed and thrown paint at a canvas.”
Another said: “I could weep when I see what’s in stores today” singling out “ugly and vulgar” prints, and “crude, cheap” designs.
Marks & Spencer turned a corner in May by posting its first annual profits increase in four years - up 6.1% to £661.2million.
Bolland took over at M&S in 2010 and during his tenure he saw rival Next overtake the annual profits haul at his business.
Under his leadership, M&S has poured billions of pounds of investment into the business to try to turn around its fortunes
Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The elephant in the changing room remains, in the form of general merchandise.
“Whether M&S can ever return to former glories by enticing clothes shoppers back to its stores is arguably its largest challenge, even though the more recent experience implies at least a stabilisation of previously dropping numbers.”
