M&S hitches up its underwear and puts on some jewels to create more than 2,000 jobs

Booming high street sales are prompting Marks & Spencer to take on an extra 2,250 staff to man bigger stores and boost customer service. Already Britain's biggest underwear retailer the group has increased its share of bra sales to well over a third by adding extras such as a fitting service. Marks is also for the first time offering made-to-measure suits at its City of London branch, which opened in September, and is now notching up sales of pounds 1m a week.

The group already sells one in five off-the-peg suits bought in Britain and is launching its own jewellery to steal a march on high street jewellers, but Sir Richard Greenbury, the chairman, said only four shops in the group could offer the full Marks & Spencer range. He said there were 80 towns where the company could double turnover if stores could be enlarged or resited.

"Customers are coming out of the trenches . . .We want to encourage them to shop with us as they seem more disposed to shop again and we want to offer them better service," said one executive.

The City, however, was not impressed and marked the shares down sharply, citing disappointing profits and the increased cost of more employees.

The new staff will be concentrated in elite stores that attract the most customers and record the highest returns. Among the company's 50 high- flyers are those in Newcastle upon Tyne and the City.

Recruitment has started and will be completed by March. Marks also took on an extra 1,500 personnel last year as sales picked up. Directors said they were being employed on tills, to answer queries and to ensure that stock was put on the shelves more quickly.

The announcement of more jobs coincided with the results for the six months to 28 September, which showed that M&S had improved profits to pounds 430.1m compared with pounds 385.4m in the same period last year. Sir Richard described this as a good performance with retail sales increasing by 8.4 per cent over the corresponding period last year. He stressed that consumer confidence seemed to be returning.

Sir Richard said the company wanted to improve sales and management had raised the the pace of new product development. He said the company had increased its market share in clothing and held its postion in foods.

Underlying sales grew at 9.5 per cent with home furnishings up by 26.9 per cent.

The company hoped to double its presence in Spain, strengthen its position in France, expand in Hong Kong and open franchises in South Korea and Australia.

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