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* Shares jump 6 pct to 7-year high
* Q4 non-food sales up 0.7 pct
* Analysts had forecast drop of 1.2 percent
* Gross margin guidance maintained
* Food sales up 0.7 pct (Adds CEO, analyst comment, shares)
By James Davey
LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - British retailer Marks & Spencer posted its best quarterly non-food sales performance infour years, putting behind it the online distribution problemsthat ruined its Christmas and buying its chief executive moretime to secure a recovery.
Shares in Britain's biggest clothing retailer rose as muchas 6.3 percent to a seven-year high after it said sales ofgeneral merchandise, spanning clothing, footwear and homewares,rose 0.7 percent in the past quarter at stores open more than ayear.
CEO Marc Bolland highlighted "high single-digit"like-for-like sales growth at both its relatively upmarketAutograph and Limited clothing brands, and noted positive pressreviews of a 199 pounds ($295) suede skirt that will hit storesthis month and is attracting high levels of pre-registration.
The outcome was the first time in 15 quarters M&S has notposted a fall in non-food like-for-like sales and was alsobetter than analysts' average forecast of down 1.2 percent.
It followed a third-quarter slump of 5.8 percent, reflectingunseasonal weather in October and November and disruption at itse-commerce distribution centre at Castle Donington in centralEngland.
Bolland, CEO since 2010, has spent billions of poundsaddressing decades of under-investment at M&S, overseeing aredesign of products, stores, logistics and its website.
But a new clothing team he set up in 2012 has so far failedto deliver a sustained increase in sales. When products haveproven a hit, it has often struggled to replenish supplies fastenough before shopper interest subsided.
However, a food business outperforming the wider grocerymarket and improving profit margins both in non-food and foodhave kept investors onside, with M&S shares rising 44 percentover the last six months.
MORE TO DO
"It's a step-by-step journey and we're taking steps in theright direction," Bolland told reporters. Asked how long heplanned to stay as boss, he said: "I'm really enjoying the roleand there's more to do."
M&S shares were up 30.5 pence at 560.5p by 0928 GMT.
"We continue to see a material gross margin opportunity ingeneral merchandise, which we expect to drive forecast upgradesover the next few years," said Investec analyst Kate Calvert.
Bolland's strategy is to focus on margin. M&S maintainedguidance for a rise in general merchandise gross margin in2014-15 of between 150 and 200 basis points, having promotedless and focused more on full-price sales.
M&S.com sales returned to growth in the quarter with salesup 13.8 percent, while Castle Donington was said to haveperformed well.
Like-for-like sales in M&S's food business rose 0.7 percentin the 13 weeks to March 28, its fiscal fourth quarter, a 22ndstraight quarterly rise. Full-year gross margin guidance forfood was maintained at up 10 to 30 basis points.
However, M&S said macro-economic issues in Russia, Ukraineand Turkey, coupled with a weakening in the euro, had dentedsecond-half profit in its international division, wherefourth-quarter sales fell 3.8 percent.
M&S, expected to post a first profit rise in four years whenit reports yearly results on May 20, said it still expectedanalysts' consensus for 2014-15 profit to edge up from 641million pounds prior to the update. ($1 = 0.6734 pounds) (Editing by Paul Sandle and David Holmes)
