Marks & Spencer gains a million new customers and delivers some of its best results in almost three decades

MARKS & SPENCER has delivered some of its best results in almost three decades.

The high street giant says it has gained a million new customers — providing its healthiest finances since 1997.

And upbeat boss Stuart Machin hailed the news by ruling out using the chain’s Sparks rewards scheme to join a “tricksy” low-price promotions war.

Loyalty cards have become a big weapon in retail, with Sainsbury’s and Tesco offering members lower prices to combat the threat of Aldi and Lidl.

But Mr Machin said he had just spent six years trying to ditch confusing discounts that make shoppers reluctant to pay full price.

And he vowed: “At M&S we don’t do tricksy ­pricing. So we won’t be doing Sparks pricing.

“We don’t think giving special prices to Sparks customers — and not giving them to everyone — is being a trusted retailer.”

Total M&S sales rose by 9.3 per cent to £13billion in the year to March — as its pre-tax profits shot up 41 per cent to £672.5million.

The City has bought into the turnaround of the iconic 140-year-old British name.

Its shares, which rose by as much as six per cent yesterday, have climbed by 76 per cent in the past year to 287.8p — leaving the company valued at £5.6billion.

The Percy Pig retailer has invested £60million in the past 12 months to lower food prices, resulting in a 13 per cent rise in food sales.

And its long-suffering clothing division has been revived with sales growth of 5.9 per cent, helped by booming lingerie and fashionable womenswear.

M&S has shut 12 high street stores, opening six better performing clothing and home branches.

Buoyant Mr Machin declared it is now a “growth business”.

Sun Business says

IT has taken a “new M&S” to turn the clock back as boss Stuart Machin declares it in the strongest financial position since 1997.

The retailer made £1billion profit that year — but its success was never repeated.

Profits almost halved soon after — and 20 years of sluggish decline followed with shoppers and investors fearing its glory days were over.

How extraordinary that, just six years ago, chairman Archie Norman claimed the company was on a “burning platform”.

Now Mr Machin is toasting it as a “growth business”.

For years M&S watchers fretted about its ill-fated bid to rival ASOS, with even Mr Norman admitting his daughter wouldn’t shop there.

But its fashion now feels fresh.

And it didn’t race to the bottom on price. Unlike Richard Greenbury’s days of hubris no one could accuse current M&S bosses of getting carried away.

Mr Machin says he is “positively dissatisfied” and warns a transformation is never complete.

They’ve learnt from false dawns.

But these results show M&S is once again a retailer shoppers and investors can cheer.

Carvery prices on the rise

THE owner of Harvester, Toby Carvery and All Bar One has said that menu prices will be around five per cent more expensive this summer than last year.

Phil Urban, CEO of Mitchells & Butlers, said inflation was now running at around 1.8 per cent through the pub and restaurant chain as energy and ingredient costs decrease.

But it is facing an extra £60million in staffing costs due to the higher minimum wage.

Official figures confirmed that the hospitality sector has been the biggest driver of inflation in recent months.

Mr Urban said his firm was returning to “much more normal price increases”.

It came as the pub chain celebrated a recovery from the pandemic with profits and sales higher than before 2019.

Sales were up 8.9 per cent to £1.3billion while pre-tax profits have almost trebled from £40million to £108million.

Water divi’s up

SEVERN Trent has hiked its dividend despite being responsible for more than 60,000 sewage spills last year.

The water company upped its payout to investors to £209million after profits rose by a fifth to £201.3million.

It argued this week it had raised £1billion from investors to cut spills by 20 per cent a year.

It was fined more than £2million by regulators for polluting the River Trent.

The firm has proposed raising customer bills by 36 per cent, partly to afford its environmental investments.

Miner snub No3

ANGLO American has dismissed a third bid from rival BHP — but kept the door open to talks by extending the takeover deadline.

The London-listed miner rejected the latest offer, which valued it at £38.6billion, or £31.11-a-share.

However, it has said BHP now has until next Wednesday to make a formal takeover, which would be the biggest ever mining deal.

But it still has “serious concerns” about BHP’s deal structure, which is conditional on Anglo American spinning off its South African assets.