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Christmas cheer as some of UK's biggest retailers post festive gains

Some of the biggest names in UK retail have fended off the winter gloom after posting promising gains over the Christmas period.

Tesco, M&S and Debenhams have all posted their Christmas trading results to the stock exchange today on so-called ‘Super Thursday’, with all three enjoying robust sales growth both on the high street and online.

Festive sales bonanza

At Tesco, like-for-like sales across the Group were up by a modest 0.3% which the grocer said was undercut by a 0.8% dip in total UK like-for-like sales after it chose not to run its Clubcard Boost programme this year.

However, the retailer still enjoyed impressive growth in its clothing (up 4.3%) and toys (up 8.5%), while food sales also jumped 1.3% in the six weeks ending 7 January.

Figures were similarly heartening at M&S which enjoyed 1.3% like-for-like total sales growth in the UK and registered a surprising 2.3% uplift in its clothing and home sales, an area which the retailer has struggled with in recent years.

Meanwhile Debenhams completed the big retail trio posting some positive results this morning after it said it saw a 5% jump in sales over the seven weeks of Christmas, along with a 17% rise in its online sales.

The strong figures will be of particular satisfaction to the Chief Executives of M&S and Tesco, who now seem to be turning their fortunes around after an embattled couple of years.

Steve Rowe at M&S said he was ‘pleased’ with the response of customers to the changes the group has been making over the last 12 months.

He added: “In Clothing & Home, better ranges, better availability and better prices helped to improve our performance in a difficult marketplace. We also continued to substantially reduce discounting, including over Black Friday.

“Our Food business continues to grow market share with customers recognising our product as special and different. Our Simply Food store pipeline remains strong.”

Brexit headwinds and rising prices

With British high streets thronged with shoppers over December, it seems today’s figures have given credence to analyst predictions that impending Brexit price rises encouraged a festive shopping bonanza from UK consumers.

That being said, the impending spectre of Brexit negotiations and economic headwinds still loom large, and Rowe struck a note of caution that, despite today’s positive figures, there were still challenges ahead.

“As we look forward, our Q4 reported numbers will be adversely affected by sale timing and a later Easter. Against the background of uncertain consumer confidence the business remains focused on delivering the strategic actions announced last year,” he concluded.