Thousands of Marks & Spencer store employees are set to enjoy bumper payouts after the High Street giant revealed Christmas sales growth, with a raft of workers getting more than £10,000 each.
The retailer, whose festive adverts featured stars such as Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Zawe Ashton, experienced high demand for festive food ranges and partywear in the run up to December 25, with more than 150,000 sequin products sold.
Marks & Spencer said following improved trading and the resulting rise in the share price, over 9,200 colleagues- the majority being customer service assistants- are expected to benefit from the vesting of the 2020 employee share save scheme when it pays out next month.
It did not reveal the total payout figure but said employees that saved a typical £150 per month in the scheme will gain over £10,000.
Based on Monday’s share price an employee who saved over £50 a month in the scheme over three years could make a potential gain of £4565 on their investment.
The update came as the company said third quarter like for like food sales were up 9.9% and clothing and homeware was 4.8% higher. That was ahead of analyst expectations and helped boost total sales by 7.2% to £3.9 billion.
During the festive period December 22 was its biggest ever day for food with sales of over £90 million.
Robyn Duffy, senior analyst at accounting group RSM UK said: “It seems everything Marks and Spencer touches turns to gold, an impressive feat considering the current economic backdrop.”
Marks & Spencer, which did caution expectations for economic growth remain uncertain, joins a host of Christmas “winners” reporting figures this week.
Tesco said advent calendar sales leapt 38% and a chocolate yule log was the highest selling Christmas dessert, while Sainsbury’s revealed it sold a record number of pigs in blankets, mince pies and sparkling wine bottles over the festive period.
