Britain's fourth-biggest supermarket, Morrisons, has revealed impressive sales figures for the Christmas period.
Morrisons said, in the six weeks up to January 6th, like-for-like sales were up by 9.5 per cent when fuel was excluded.
That represents an encouraging return from the key festive period, particularly when set against the difficult trading conditions many retailers experienced.
The supermarket's chief executive Marc Bolland said he was "delighted" by the results, which has seen the grocery firm's share value increase on early trading.
Total sales at the supermarket were up by 11.6 per cent excluding fuel (13.6 when taking petrol sales into account) – a rise partly put down to the firm's new advertising and price promotion schemes.
"These initiatives brought more customers into our stores, with over four million extra customer visits over the six-week Christmas period," a Morrisons statement said.
Morrisons claims it had "record levels" of trade across its 375 stores during the crucial run-up to Christmas and new year.
"I am delighted with our Christmas performance," Mr Bolland said.
"We welcomed significantly more customers to our stores, and they were well served with attractive offers and great fresh food. These strong results are further evidence that our rigorous focus on freshness, service and value is striking a chord with shoppers."
Morrisons shares were up slightly to 301.75p shortly before 10:00 GMT but had been fluctuating throughout the day.
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