A STRONG showing by David Beckham's range of children's clothing has failed to prevent a fall in fourth-quarter sales for Marks and Spencer.

Despite good contributions from schoolwear and the England captain's DBO7 range, M&S said that other childrenswear lines had affected overall clothing sales in the 11 weeks to March 29.

The chain said that total sales for clothing, footwear and gifts fell by 0.3 per cent in the period, while general like-for-like sales - which also includes its home range - were down by 0.4 per cent.

Chief executive Roger Holmes said that the David Beckham range and schoolwear represented "pockets of recovery" for the store's troubled children's lines, which represent ten per cent of overall clothing sales.

He said: "The areas of success that we have achieved so far in David Beckham DB07 and schoolwear gives us an indication of what we need to do to build a better recovery."

The group blamed weakening market conditions for the lower general sales but said it had outperformed the market in food.

Like-for-like food sales were ahead by 2.6 per cent on the same period last year, helping the group to achieve an overall like-for-like improvement of one per cent.

Mr Holmes said: "Our general merchandise sales have been affected by weakening market conditions during the last quarter but performance for the year overall has been satisfactory.

"In food, we have again delivered strong quarterly sales, outperforming the market."