Chief executive Stuart Machin said a record number of customers shopped with M&S in the period.

“Food sales were strong and the business continues to outperform, hitting a new market share milestone in the period,” he said today.

“Fashion, Home & Beauty is getting back on track as we work through the tail end of recovery,” he added.

“The drop in clothing sales was driven by a poor performance in stores, which had offset a recovery in online,” it said.

It said a higher amount of stock was discounted in its post-Christmas sale, but sell-through rates had been strong.

In November, M&S said it would have fully recovered from April’s cyber hack by the end of its financial year to March, forecasting second-half profit “at least” in line with last year.

It said today its full-year guidance was unchanged.

Its profit in the first half slumped 55.4%, after the shutdown of its online operation caused fashion, home and beauty sales to slide 16.4%.