Marks & Spencer, the iconic UK retailer, has turned out to be one of the lucky ones. It has been able to save £170m from its pensions liability in a way that probably won't lead to angry protests from retired staff.

The retail chain has a comparatively big pensions bill, worth about £5bn, for a company worth £6bn. But it also has enough assets to pay for that bill, it said today in its results statement - as of April 2, £168.5m more. At the same date last year it had a deficit of £367m.