Marks & Spencer is expected to add to a gathering sense of gloom among high-street retailers this
week by revealing a "grisly" drop in clothes sales as consumers tighten their belts in anticipation of the government's cuts.
Fresh from announcing plans for a flagship store on the Champs-Elysées after a decade's absence from France, the venerable retailer is likely to reveal a 6% fall in like-for-like sales of non-food merchandise for the three months to March. Food could be marginally up by 1%, according to a consensus among analysts' forecasts, with total sales down by 2%.
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