Red faces all round at the recent Marks and Spencer quarterly results update for analysts as the retail giant reported group sales up by 1.3%, a welcome boost for a group hamstrung by poor fashion sales and no doubt something the company was celebrating.

But initial enthusiasm was quickly dampened when M&S had to retract the numbers, realising that there had been double counting on a spreadsheet, blamed on a ‘clerical error’. Put on the spot, chief financial officer Helen Weir described the situation as ‘unacceptable’ but stressed it had not affected the market.

Although the share price took an initial hit, more for the 8.3% drop in fashion and home sales than the accounting incompetency presumably, it ended the day up.