High street retailers Marks & Spencer and Debenhams are set this week to reveal further falls in sales over Christmas — but are likely to avoid profit warnings thanks to a last-minute spending surge.
M&S, in the midst of its latest turnaround effort under chairman Archie Norman, is expected to report like-for-like sales declines of between 2.5% and 3% in both its clothing and food businesses, according to analysts at Shore Capital, the company’s broker.
Analysts expect Debenhams to follow a poor Christmas last year with sales falls of 2% to 3% this time around. Investor concerns for the ailing chain, lumbered with store costs almost 10 times its £33m annual profits, are “extremely elevated”, said analysts at JP Morgan.
Meanwhile, Selfridges is reported by The Times to have rung up another record breaking Christmas with the retailer set to publish figures today showing that sales across its stores and online business rose by 8% in the 24 days to Christmas compared with the same period last year. Sales were up by 8% in the week to Christmas.
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