LONDON (AP) — Marks and Spencer PLC, Britain's largest clothing retailer, said yesterday sales rose seven percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier.Sales in Britain climbed 6.4 percent while revenue in markets outside Britain — including through its Bermuda store — rose 14.8 percent in the quarter ended June 30.

On a like-for-like basis, sales in the British market gained two percent, marking a slowdown in the rapid pace of recovery of the retailing giant, which posted an 8.5 percent gain in like-for-like sales in the same quarter a year ago.

Marks and Spencer shares rose 2.7 percent to 649.5 pence ($13.08) on the London Stock Exchange.

Richard Hunter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said the numbers were sluggish compared with the company's recent standards but still left room for optimism.

"Growth in international sales and the home section were particularly notable, overriding the slowdown in food," Hunter said.

Morgan Stanley rated M&S shares as a "sell".

"M&S is a supertanker, with market share 50 percent higher than its closest competitor, and growing at an above-market rate for any length of time is always going to be a major challenge," Morgan Stanley analyst Katharine Wynne said in a research note.

"The problem for Marks is that it is investing its balance sheet in driving its top line, and evidence that this will be harder work, and potentially higher risk, in future will continue to weigh on the shares."

Chief executive Stuart Rose attributed the slowdown to uncertainty over consumer spending and bad weather.

"You're bound to slow down in real terms if you've made great progress the year before," Rose said.