MARKS & SPENCER posted its best performance for two years in the first quarter of 2013, defying analysts who had predicted a slump and easing pressure on the firm's beleaguered chief executive Marc Bolland.
While sales in the company's clothing-dominated general merchandising section fell for the seventh quarter in a row, by 3.8 per cent, the decline was offset by a 4 per cent increase in sales of food in the run-up to Easter. This led to an overall increase of 0.6 per cent in like-for-like sales.
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