MARKS & Spencer's annual profits topped £1 billion for the first time in a decade yesterday, but staff failed to cash in after the retail giant slashed bonus payouts.

The company's 62,000 customer assistants, including about 1,000 in the Southampton, Hedge End and Winchester stores - who gained up to £500 last time - will see payouts fall by half to a maximum of £250.

Chief executive Sir Stuart Rose who received a total bonus of £2.6m last year - will gain no extra payout after the group missed targets, details of which were not disclosed.

M&S's staff pot of £16.8m is a fraction of last year's record £91m windfall.

The gloom for staff came despite the best profit performance for ten years, although City analysts expect this to fall to about £925m next year in a darkening retail climate.

Sir Stuart - who has led the turnaround of the business since 2004 - said trading since the end of March had been "mixed", with sales suffering in April's downpours before recovering with better weather earlier this month.

The M&S chief remains cautious over trading, although the group still intends to spend up to £900m on stores this year.

The company said it now has more than 21 million customers shopping in its stores weekly, 400,000 ahead of the previous year.