Marks & Spencer is expected to report another fall in underlying sales in both clothing and food in its Christmas quarter, while the major grocers are forecast to show a slowdown in growth as the discounters march on. A huge profit warning from online fashion group Asos in mid-December then routed share prices. Clothing chain Next is the only major listed retailer to have reported on Christmas trading so far. It sprang a positive surprise with a late surge in online demand offsetting steep falls in sales in stores. For M&S, analysts are on average forecasting a fall of 1.6% in like-for-like clothing and homeware sales for its third quarterto December 28, mirroring the previous quarter’s decline.

Source: Irish Examiner January 05, 2019 06:00 UTC