Marks & Spencer Group Plc reported 4.3 percent increase in pretax profit

Sales increased 5.1 percent to 9.02 billion pounds, with UK sales up 4.2 percent and sales in the international division up 16.8 percent. Profit achieving the symbolic 1 billion pounds mark for the first time in a decade.

 M&S said April was 'a difficult
month', reflecting dramatically different weather patterns compared
with the same month of last year. While May to date has shown 'a
marked improvement', the retailer remains cautious about consumer
sentiment.

'I think probably we won't come out of
this (consumer downturn) until maybe mid-summer or autumn of 2009,'
chief executive Stuart Rose told reporters. 'Our outlook going
forward is cautious — cautious for the short term but reasonably
confident for the medium and long term.'

'M&S four years ago was a weak
business in a strong market,' he added. 'I believe M&S today is a
strong business in a weak market.'

For the year to March 29 2008, the
group made an underlying pretax profit of 1.007 billion pounds. This
compares to analysts' consensus forecast of 989 million pounds and
965 million pounds achieved in the previous year.

The retailer bought-back 7.4 percent of
its issued share capital for 555.9 million pounds during the year.