Marks & Spencer has drawn up ambitious international expansion plans that could lead to store openings in India and China as early as next year. Daily Telegraph

Revealing pretax profits of £965.2m, M&S said it would set out its international plans in detail in November.

Chief executive Stuart Rose said no final decision had been made on whether to open franchise stores in China or India or take a stake in a joint venture company, but added: 'The light has switched from red to amber.'

He also said he was seeking to re-enter Europe, six years after M&S closed its wholly owned loss-making European business.

In the UK M&S will invest more than £800m in refurbishing stores and increasing its floorspace by as much as 20%.