Marks and Spencer has reported a successful Christmas trading period, racking in upwards of £2.3b in food sales.
It's a 9.9% jump in like-for-like sales compared with the same period last year, while it's clothing brand saw like-for-like sales improve by 4.4% (£1.2b).
Stuart Machin, Chief Executive said: "Our strategy to reshape M&S for growth has enabled sustained sales momentum across Food and Clothing & Home over the Christmas period.
"In Food, we led the market on volume growth every month with a c.7% increase across the quarter, and served more customers than ever before. Core categories grew strongly and renewal stores, which cater to larger basket shops, performed particularly well, as more customers looked to us for more of their full shop.
"In Clothing & Home, we delivered a good performance with sales growing ahead of the market and less stock going into sale. Womenswear has been the standout, growing volume and value significantly ahead of the market."
Fine festive period for Tesco's premium brand
Tesco has also reported increases across its stores over the festive period, headlined by a 16.7% increase in Tesco Finest sales, including a record sales week.
Like-for-like sales jumped 6.8% in the UK in the six-weeks prior to Christmas, including growth of 9.2% in the four-weeks prior to December 25.
Ken Murphy, chief executive, said: "As part of our focus on value, we offered a full Christmas dinner for just £2.09 per person, helping to drive record sales in the weeks leading up to Christmas and further market share gains.
"We put a strong focus on quality and innovation too, with over 550 new and improved festive products.
"Over 18 million customers took the opportunity to treat themselves by shopping from our Finest range, which saw sales growth of nearly 17%."
FTSE
The UK's flagship share index, the FTSE 100, was up 33-points at 7,685 shortly after opening this morning.
Brent crude oil futures were up 0.76% today, trading at $77.38 per barrel.
Companies reporting today
- Ferrexpo - Q4 production statement
- Hilton Food - Full year trading statement
- Marks and Spencer - Christmas trading statement
- Taylor Wimpey - Trading statement
- Tesco - Q3 trading statement
- Whitbread - Q3 trading statement