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It’s acknowledged that the retail sector is operating in tough trading conditions, but it appears to be even tougher this morning for M&S with profits down - again. That said, new food stores appear to be working for them but even M&S will struggle to sell Easter eggs at £16 a throw when all shoppers are thinking about how and where they spend their cash. Their focus needs to be in innovation in food otherwise this stalling in sales could become more permanent.

It’s interesting though that operating costs are up and being offset by efficiencies - but the 5 year plan to refresh just a quarter of non-food selling space seems to be too slow and too insignificant lacking the necessary pace required to win in a multichannel retail environment. M&S needs to get its skates on.