Stylish: Sienna Miller has been designing clothes for Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer investors hope to be dazzled next week – and not just by the sequins on Sienna Miller’s new party frocks.
The department store chain will update the market on Wednesday, providing insight into consumer confidence ahead of the critical Christmas period.
A £79 green satin maxi dress designed by British actress Miller has been flying off the shelves since its launch last week.
Her second collection swaps her signature boho chic for party glam after the first in June saw most pieces sell out within hours.
More insight into the soaring sales could deliver some sorely needed cheer after Rachel Reeves’s bleak Budget heaped more pain and misery on the High Street.
Updates are also expected from online retailer Asos on Tuesday, Primark on Wednesday, Sainsbury’s on Thursday and Asda on Friday.
But retailers are nervous about consumer confidence in the wake of the Chancellor’s first Budget.
Interest rates could stay higher for longer, which would dampen economic growth and spending. There are also fears that shoppers could feel an increase to their employers’ National Insurance Contributions in their pay packets through stifled wage growth.
Even so, M&S has ridden out the consumer gloom so far by investing into its food offer and giving its fashion lines a makeover.
Shares have been trading at eight-year highs as the turnaround gains pace. Stuart Machin, who has continued to implement a plan kicked off by chairman and retail veteran Archie Norman, will be hoping to wow the City once more.
After years of M&S fashion lines being derided as ‘dowdy’, partnerships with Miller and Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham have returned the sparkle.
On the food side, more customers have been flocking to stores even for their big weekly shop, bosses have said. Bumper sales means it is now hot on the heels of Middle England rival Waitrose.
But investors are doubtful over the future of a tie-up with Ocado Retail despite signs of progress.
Aarin Chiekrie, analyst at broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘Machin has breathed new life into the business. Its food and clothing propositions have been sharpened, helping it steal market share.’
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