Stuart Rose, the chief executive of Marks & Spencer, said yesterday that the high street chain was likely to experience a continued slowdown in market-share gains and in sales growth as he revealed the weakest quarterly sales figures in two years.

Mr Rose insisted that M&S would outperform the retail market and said that it had delivered “a pretty solid set of results in a strange quarter”.

“I may have said ‘weather is for wimps’, but we didn’t expect to have people shopping in boats. Rotherham has turned into the Venice of the North. Ordinary weather is for wimps, but this has been extraordinary,” he said.

Shares in M&S rose 9p to 641½p yesterday as the company showed that it had weathered June’s storms better than many had expected.

The company revealed a 2 per cent rise in like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to June 30, double that forecast by analysts, who had downgraded their foreceasts recently in the light of miserable weather.

Underlying sales of general merchandise, which includes clothing and home furnishings, rose by 2.9 per cent – considerably more than the 1 per cent expected – while food rose 0.7 per cent, slightly less than hoped for.

Mr Rose admitted that underlying growth in food sales had been hit by the company’s expansion of Simply Food, because the new stores were stealing sales from existing outlets. Poor sales of barbecue foods and summer fruits relative to last year also hit performance. However, he pointed to an 8.5 per cent rise in total food sales in the period. Strong sales of home furnishings and good trading via the internet during the wet weather helped to offset slower clothing sales, although analysts calculated that these were still 2 per cent up.

Mr Rose said that while shorts and T-shirts were not achieving the same levels of sales as during last year’s hot summer, knitwear, formal wear and hosiery were all selling well.

He added that five interest-rate rises in the past year, disruption from store refurbishments and unusually cool and wet June weather had made it difficult to assess what was happening in the market.

“We are not quite sure where we are going. A lot of strange things are going on,” he said.

Mr Rose described last week’s quarter-point interest-rate rise by the Bank of England as “unhelpful” and said that it was impossible for M&S to continue to put the same level of sales growth on top of strong growth last year. However, he went on: “I have confidence that when you compare us with our peer group over the next six to nine months we will continue to show good form.”

M&S has admitted losing between £1 million and £2 million in sales while about a quarter of the chain’s retail space is disrupted. The latest round of work will be finished in the autumn, helping to ease conditions in the vital preChristmas trading period.

Meanwhile, Mr Rose is to meet George Davies, the chairman of M&S’s per una brand, next week to discuss his future at the company. Mr Davies is rumoured to be planning to leave, although sources told The Times he had no plans to depart imminently and would certainly remain at the retailer into next year.

M&S favourites

— Limited Collection pure silk sequinned tunic (£59.50)

— Autograph Weekend tunic top with silk (£25)

— per una mini trench coat in gold (£89.50)

— Authentic wood square halterneck bikini set (£30)

— Limited Collection mixed urban tribe necklace (£15)

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax