Marks & Spencer Group showed its recovery was continuing apace yesterday with fourth-quarter sales well ahead of analysts' expectations.
The retailer's like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to April 1 grew 6.8 per cent, compared with forecasts around 3.2 per cent.
M&S shares jumped five per cent to 592 pence by 9:11 a.m. British time, having already shot up 64 per cent in the last 12 months, putting a value on the company of £9.46 billion.
Chief executive officer Stuart Rose told reporters that the latest industry data showed the company's share of the key womenswear market was up 1.6 percentage points at 10.9 per cent, but he declined to say which rivals he thought were losing market share.
Fourth quarter like-for-like food sales were up 5.6 per cent compared with forecasts around 4.8 per cent, while non-food sales shot up 8.2 per cent compared with analysts' expected growth of about 1.6 per cent.
"We are pleased with the progress we are making but there remains much to do," said Mr Rose.
"The trading environment remains difficult and we do not expect this to improve in the next financial year." For the full year, M&S, with around 400 stores, said it expected to achieve a pretax profit of £745 million to £755 million. That compares with a current range of £730 million to £770 million, with a consensus of £744 million, according to forecasts provided by the company.
Mr Rose is not yet calling a turnaround, however. He told reporters that the Christmas quarter this year would be the defining period to judge the recovery, as M&S would then be achieving growth on growth - improving on a year-ago quarter that had also shown growth.
Analyst Tony Shiret at Credit Suisse, who has an "outperform" rating on the stock, agreed.
"It's miles better than expected but against the weakest comparative quarter of last year," said Mr Shiret. "We need to wait to gauge the future prospects of the company."
Mr Rose, who was parachuted in to defend the company from a £9.1 billion bid by Philip Green in 2004, is rebuilding profit margins with improved buying terms and reducing markdowns to deliver a sharp increase in profitability.