Marks & Spencer delivered a positive Easter trading update on Tuesday, reporting like-for-like sales growth of 6.2% across its food halls and 4.8% in clothing and homeware for the six weeks to mid-April 2026. The results underscored the retailer’s ongoing turnaround under chief executive Stuart Machin, who has overseen a significant modernisation of the M&S store estate and digital platform since taking the top job in 2022. However, the company cautioned investors that rising employment costs and continued supply chain pressures would weigh on margins in the second half of the financial year.
The food division, which now accounts for over half of M&S’s total revenues, performed particularly strongly, with the company’s premium ready meals, bakery and confectionery ranges all delivering double-digit volume growth over the Easter weekend. M&S said its new Food on the Move format, which has been rolled out to 85 locations, achieved average weekly sales 34% ahead of the stores it replaced, validating the company’s strategy of targeting premium commuter and footfall locations.
The clothing division’s 4.8% like-for-like growth was achieved against a strong comparative period from Easter 2025, which analysts noted made the performance even more impressive. M&S’s womenswear ranges, which had been a persistent weakness for the company for many years, continued their recovery under the creative direction brought in during the 2023 brand relaunch. The Per Una and Autograph ranges both reported their highest customer satisfaction scores in over a decade, according to internal tracking data disclosed by the company.
Despite the positive top-line momentum, M&S flagged several cost headwinds that will affect profitability in the coming months. The increase in the National Living Wage to £12.21 per hour from April 2026 will add approximately £120 million to the company’s annual wage bill. Higher employer National Insurance contributions, announced in the October 2025 Budget, represent a further £65 million of additional cost. Together, these fiscal measures will reduce M&S’s operating profit by an estimated £185 million on an annualised basis.
Shares in M&S rose 2.1% following the trading update, reflecting relief that the company had maintained its growth momentum. The stock has recovered strongly from a low of 180p in January 2024, trading at 378p on Tuesday — still well below the pre-pandemic highs of the early 2020s but representing a substantial recovery for long-term shareholders who stayed the course through the difficult years of the pandemic and its aftermath.
— Edward Blackwell, London Capital Post
