M&S wants to control prices to keep them “as flat as possible” despite admitting April’s rising National Insurance costs will add £120 million to the retailer’s costs.

That means despite enjoying strong business growth M&S would be more reluctant to hire new staff in the wake of the Budget, which will increase the cost of employment from April, it has told The Telegraph newspaper. 

CEO Stuart Machin said: “I do not see big job losses. We’re a growing business. We’ve got lots to do. Does it make us look at how we recruit? Of course it does, and that does mean we have to think about where we invest.”

Despite enjoying its “busiest ever” Christmas, with sales topping £4 billion in the 13 weeks to December 28, M&S confirmed it’s maintaining its plan to strip £500 million of costs out of its business by early 2028. And Machin said the company was “laser focused” on the plan.

He added: “Obviously, the external environment remains challenging, with cost and economic headwinds to navigate, but much [of it] is in our control.

“We go into 2025 shifting up again and raring to go, and accelerating the pace of change… We’ve got to be more productive, so that’s how we’re going to mitigate our costs.”

Machin also said customer confidence was “slightly subdued” at a time post-Christmas when “everybody feels the pinch”.