British retailer Marks & Spencer has reported another fall in quarterly underlying sales in its clothing division, illustrating the extent of the challenge facing its new boss.

Steve Rowe, an M&S veteran of 26 years, succeeded Marc Bolland as chief executive of the clothing and food stores group on Saturday, stepping-up from the role he took on only last July as the head of the troubled general merchandise division.

He started his tenure with a familiar sales decline in that division, which consists of clothing, footwear and homeware.

For the 13 weeks to March 26, M&S’s fiscal fourth quarter, sales of general merchandise at stores open over a year fell 2.7 per cent.

Though that was better than analysts’ consensus forecast of a 3.4 per cent decline and a third quarter fall of 5.8 per cent, it still meant the division has enjoyed just one quarter of like-for-like sales growth in 21 quarters.

“Although the sales decline in clothing and home was lower than last quarter, our performance remains unsatisfactory and there is still more we need to do,” Mr Rowe said.

“Turning around our clothing and home business by improving our customer offer is our number one priority. I will update you on my thoughts on the business in May.”

The retailer said food business continued to outperform a highly competitive market as like-for-like sales remained flat over the period.

Mr Rowe said: “We had a mixed performance in the final quarter of the year. Our food business once again outperformed the market by 3.5 per cent. Although the sales decline in clothing and home was lower than last quarter, our performance remains unsatisfactory and there is still more we need to do.

Shares in M&S have fallen by a quarter over the last year and late last month hit an 18-month low after Simon Wolfson, chief executive of Next, warned this year could be the toughest since 2008.

Agencies