International revenue at Marks & Spencer has dropped by 13.4%, the British retailer has said.

The results, for 52 weeks ended March 30th, were driven by the closure of stores in loss-making exit markets, and the sale of its business in Hong Kong in December 2017.

M&S said excluding Hong Kong and exit markets, revenue actually grew by 1.1%.

In the year, the firm opened 37 stores and modernised a further 56.

It also re-platformed the website for its Irish business.

But overall, the retailer saw an almost 10% fall in annual pre-tax profits - the third year of declines.

Its profit before tax was stg£523.2m (€593.7m) - down 9.9% on the stg£580.9m (€659.2m) figure for 2018.

Steve Rowe, Marks & Spencer CEO, has said the company is working to fix legacy issues.

"We are deep into the first phase of our transformation programme and continue to make good progress restoring the basics and fixing many of the legacy issues we face.

"As I have said, at this stage we are judging ourselves as much by the pace of change as by the trading outcomes and change will accelerate in the year ahead.

"Whilst there are green shoots, we have not been consistent in our delivery in a number of areas of the business.

"M&S is changing faster than at any time in my career - substantial changes across the business to our processes, ranges and operations and this has constrained this year's performance, particularly in Clothing and Home.

"However, we remain on track with our transformation and are now well on the road to making M&S special again."

Revenue from its food, clothing and home departments were all down.

UK food revenue down was 0.6%, with like-for-like revenue falling by 2.3%.

While its clothing and home revenue was down 3.6% - the retailer said this was impacted by store closures, with like-for-like revenue also down 1.6%.

Transformation programme

In a statement, the company said: "The objective of our transformation programme is to create a profitable, growing family of businesses under the M&S brand within three to five years, bound together not only by a common consumer brand but also by shared sites, employment values, technology and customer data.

"The first phase of the transformation programme is about restoring the basics; getting the organisation and infrastructure of the business fit for the future."

"Critically we are taking steps to bring back the voice of the stores.

"Over the years a business that was famously product and store led has developed a 'Head Office knows best' mentality, remote from the customer.

"In our new organisation we are ensuring that the role of the store is central to all our activity, whether that be active engagement in range decisions for the first time or store managers leading the trading feedback calls which are attended by all commercial executives."