A REVIVAL in men’s suits has helped Marks & Spencer fashion a dramatic comeback.

Its profits jumped by a fifth as both food and clothing sales rose.

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Boss Stuart Machin said 670,000 new shoppers had been tempted by its menswear ranges, as advertised by Mark Wright and Spencer Matthews, over the past six weeks.

He reported it had sold one million suits so far this year as more workers returned to offices after the pandemic and wanted a smarter look.

And he claimed the average age of its menswear customers had fallen by a decade as it was now winning more shoppers in their mid-20s and 30s.

He said: “Our menswear is getting better. I was wearing our £60 sell-out bomber jacket at the weekend and a friend thought it was Prada.

The chief exec, wearing head-to-toe M&S gear including Supima briefs, said it had been working on becoming more stylish.

Mr Machin, 54, added: “I wear my suit straight off the rack and, I shouldn’t say this, but former CEOs used to have theirs altered.”

Despite half-year profits of £391.9million, Mr Machin warned the high street giant faced a £120million hit from increased National Insurance and the minimum wage rise.

However, he said he had no intention of putting up prices.

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A California court has dismissed a lawsuit against Northern Data, the German-listed crypto and IT infrastructure company, after two former directors voluntarily withdrew their claims of unfair dismissal.

Joshua Porter and Gulsen Kama had claimed in June that they were sacked by Northern Data after raising concerns about alleged fraud and tax evasion. Northern Data has refuted the allegations.

The company said in an emailed statement:

We are pleased to confirm that this lawsuit has been dismissed. Both Gulsen Kama and Joshua Porter have acknowledged that they misunderstood/misstated the facts related to the complaint. Importantly, they have both confirmed that they were not fired for whistleblowing. As we stated from the outset, integrity and transparency are at the heart of everything we do and these were completely baseless allegations against the company.

The order to dismiss dockets are here and here.

AN incredible hoard of rare toy cars has sold for an eye-watering £46,000.

Terry Kneeshaw, from Darlington, County Durham, began his collection of Matchbox Regular Wheels in the 1970s.

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It has grown to a whopping 450 cars over the years.

The eagle-eyed collector has categorised the artwork of each box from type A to F, as well as by model series from one through to 75.

It has been dubbed Britain’s biggest collections of Matchbox toys, and was expected to fetch £21,000.

But, with the help of Vectis Auction House, Terry sold his 50-year-old collection for £46,000.

Ahead of the sale, artist Terry said: “I loved the paintings that came together on the boxes and I have some very, very rare ones.

“I started collecting variants and it became an obsession.

“For a lot of people the cars are the most important part of the collection but for me as an artist what was more important was the pictures.

“So when I collected, I collected all the box types.”

The auction, which was held online, saw buyers from across the world bidding on 445 items.

All of them sold on the day, as reported by What’s The Jam.

Interesting cars included a Matchbox Regular Wheels 55a DUKW Amphibian.

It sold for £760 in a rare late issue type D1 box, printed by Pembroke Abbey with matching model artwork.

A Matchbox Regular Wheels 33a Ford Zodiac pair, which was estimated at £40 to £60 also sold for £539.

This comes as a superfan who collected every copy of NME magazine for 52 years is selling them for an eye-watering £3,000.

Tony Howard’s attic nearly collapsed under the weight of his massive magazine hoard – which started when he was just 12-years-old.

Elsewhere, a vintage Star Wars toy hoard found at the back of a cupboard is set to go under the hammer for an eye-watering £600,000.

The over 400 near-mint figurines – including Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader – are still in their original packaging.

Dating from the late 1970s and early 80s, the plastic toys had been stashed in a carboard box for 40 years by a pensioner.

In Livingston, Scotland, a dad-of-two hopes his giant collection of Pokémon cards will be worth more than a quarter of a million pounds.

Gordon White, 58, has been hoarding the rare trading cards for 16 years and has amassed thousands.

He has already cashed in by selling half of his collection, which fetched a whopping £200,000 when it went under the hammer in November last year.

And, a collector who found 1,246 coins over the last 45 years sold the lot for £2million.

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MORE than £49billion has been raised for good causes by the National Lottery — and its new owners are setting their sights on raising even more cash.

In February, after a lengthy regulatory process, Allwyn took over from Camelot — which had held the licence since 1994.

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Andria Vidler, the firm’s chief executive, said that there was a huge amount of work to modernise the National Lottery and bring back the buzz.

Its existence has proven vital as its grants have been relied upon for the country’s sporting and artistic triumphs — as well as at grassroot levels.

Since funding began British athletes have won over 1,200 Olympic and Paralympic medals.

Allwyn has set out plans to double the amount of cash for good causes from £30million to £60million a week over the next decade of its licence.

Ms Vidler, said: “One of the biggest challenges with the National Lottery is that it has aged.

“The world has changed massively since the National Lottery was launched 30 years ago.

“Back then it was a TV spectacular hosted by Noel Edmonds and Anthea Turner and watched by a third of the population.

“Now we’re facing increased competition, not just from other lotteries but from competing demands for our attention from streaming box sets, to video games and social media.”

Still, in the eight months since Allwyn took over, it has raised £1billion for good causes.

Ms Vidler revealed Allwyn, which was founded by Czech billionaire Karel Komarek, has invested more than £350million in modernising operations.

Its revamp involves improving tech, scrapping charges for ­terminals and upgrading point of sale kit for retailers.

To come next year will be a new and improved digital app and website for customers.

It is also rolling out a festive launch with scratchcard gift cards and Christmas cards with more prizes to be launched next year.

Ms Vidler added: “I want the next decade for the National Lottery to be the best yet.”

‘We’ll hand shopkeepers £10k bonus for every millionaire’

WITH over 41,000 shops selling Lottery tickets we know how important the local store is to every neighbourhood in the UK.

The ripple effect of each ticket sold in a shop needs to be championed more.

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From our beginning, 30 years ago, local retailers have been at the heart of the National Lottery.

You couldn’t buy tickets from a phone screen — the only place to get them was your local store.

Much has changed since then but despite the world becoming increasingly digital we know there’s still a thrill from buying a physical ticket, whether that’s ­filling in your lucky numbers or buying a scratch card.

Without local retailers selling our tickets, National Lottery players could never have raised the amazing £49billion for good causes and had such a profound impact on British society.

The National Lottery has backed Olympians and Paralympians to ­fulfil the nation’s dreams.

And we’ve invested in some of the UK’s most loved landmarks — including the Angel of the North, Cornwall’s Eden Project and Stonehenge.

Money from tickets has also backed over 600 films, including award winners such as Billy Elliot and The King’s Speech.

None of this would be possible without your local shopkeeper and we want them to be part of our winners’ celebrations.

So when a winning National Lottery ticket is sold with a jackpot of £50,000 or more, we’ll hand them a cash prize of up to £10,000.

It’s a meaningful commitment — there’s nine million winning tickets a week and seven new millionaires.

ASHLEY’S BLAST AT BOOHOO

MIKE Ashley’s Frasers Group has blasted Boohoo for its “utter disregard for shareholders” and threatened the online retailer’s directors with legal action.

Mr Ashley is reeling from Boohoo snubbing his demands to become its next chief executive and promoting insider Dan Finley instead.

In response, Mr Ashley has issued another public letter saying: “This has to stop. What will they try next? Desperate people do desperate things”.

The tycoon, who is Boohoo’s biggest shareholder with a 37 per cent stake, is now calling on Boohoo to put any brand disposals to a vote and hire an investment bank to scrutinise the terms of any brand sale.

It comes amid concerns that Boohoo could sell one of its brands to someone with ­connections to chairman and founder Mahmud Kamani.

Boohoo said last month it could break-up the business to revive its share price.

’SPOONS PINT RISE

WETHERSPOONS’ boss Sir Tim Martin has warned the price of a pint will rise after the Budget added £60million in costs to the pub chain.

Wetherspoons, which employs more than 40,000 people, plans to pass on the costs of hikes in employers’ national insurance contributions and the minimum wage.

Analysts think it could add 5p to the price of a pint, despite record sales over the last 14 weeks, with like-for-like sales rising by 5.9 per cent.