Marks & Spencer – not for the first time – managed to exceed expectations this morning when it updated the market on its performance in the last three months.

It would be easy to conclude this bodes well for Sir Stuart Rose, M&S’s executive chairman. He will go on a charm offensive next week when he attempts to face down a hostile motion at its AGM amid lingering questions over succession and corporate governance and rumblings of boardroom tension. He’ll need all of the ammunition he can lay his hands on.

In clothing, M&S actually managed to take some market share, while on food it has at least proved it can do the dirty work needed to compete in a recession – albeit at the expense of profit margins.

But this is where things begin to look a bit shoddy around the seams for Sir Stuart. Like-for-like sales declines are almost inevitable for M&S in a recession – but achieving them alongside a deterioration in margins suggests the 125-year-old retailer is having to run very hard to go backwards.

Sir Stuart already has his gaze fixed on the finishing line, having said a new chief executive will be appointed next year. But for M&S, quickly running out of puff, the end of the recession cannot come quickly enough.

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