Waitrose reports record festival trading results

It was a merrier Christmas for Waitrose last year as the British supermarket revealed sales were up during the festive season.

The upmarket grocer - which has 288 shops across the country - said Thursday it broke the £300m barrier for the first time in the 12 days leading to December 31st, following an 8.8% year-on-year rise in total sales.

The store reported a 5.4% increase in like-for-like sales between December 18th and 31st, compared to last year.

Waitrose, a division of the John Lewis Partnership, said sales climbed 7.7% from November 4th to December 24th and that like-for-like sales increased 4.3%.

Sales were boosted as consumers stocked up on champagne and party food to celebrate the holiday season.

The company extended trading hours to as late as 24:00 over the busy period to meet demand.

The results come a day after John Lewis reported record festive trading. John Lewis made £684.8m from department store sales for the five weeks to December 29th, up 14.8% from the year before.

Other major UK stores - Tesco, J Sainsbury and Morrison Supermarkets - will release Christmas trading results next week.

RD