Marc Bolland, Chief Executive, said:
"Marks & Spencer performed well in the first half. Sales were ahead of last year despite tough comparatives and a challenging economic environment. Our Food business in particular performed strongly. We maintained our share of the Clothing and Food markets.
"In an increasingly promotional environment, we managed costs tightly and took a decision to invest in giving our customers better value, choosing not to pass on the full extent of the increases in commodity prices.
"Against a challenging consumer backdrop, we took decisive action to manage the business through the short term while continuing our focus on investing in creating a stronger platform for future growth.
"We have a very exciting Christmas product offer for our customers with more innovation and choice than ever before."
The Interim dividend was held at 6.2p.
Current trading and outlook
The second half of the year has started in line with our expectations. We will continue to manage the business for a challenging environment with particular focus on offering great value to our customers and tight control of costs and stock. We remain cautious about the outlook but are well set up for the all important Christmas period.
We will update on our third quarter sales on 10 January 2012.
