Sales declines across all four of Gap’s divisions have led to a 14 per cent slump in first-quarter profits at the clothing giant.

In the quarter to May 2 earnings were 15m (£135.5m), down from 49m (£156.9m) the year before. First-quarter net sales were $3.13bn (£1.97bn) compared with $3.38bn (£2.13bn) the year before. Comparable store sales fell 8 per cent.

Chairman and chief executive Glenn Murphy said that he was “encouraged” by the performance of Old Navy and that Gap remained focused on “increasing traffic and gaining back market share across all of our brands”.