Some of Britain’s top retailers are toasting sales success in the key festive trading period in the latest sign of a recovery.
Home Retail Group (HRG), Dixons Retail Group, Halfords and Thorntons all reported improved year-on-year figures yesterday.
But first-half results from Games Workshop were poor, sending its shares tumbling nearly 25%.
HRG said its Argos chain enjoyed its best Christmas performance for more than 10 years after making further progress in its plan to become a digital-led retailer, with nearly half of sales made online.
Another strong Christmas for tablet computers and the recent launch of Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 games consoles helped like-for-like sales jump 3.8% in the 18 weeks to January 4.
HRG upped its full-year forecasts after the robust third quarter, with pre-tax profits now expected towards the top of City expectations for between £90million and £109million.
The group’s DIY business, Homebase, also delivered a better-than-expected result over Christmas – same store sales were up 4.7%.
Dixons said business at its PC World and Currys outlets took off “like a rocket” after a record Boxing Day, when more than £100,000 of sales went through the tills every minute. Like-for-like sales were 5% higher between November 1 and January 4.
Chief executive Sebastian James said Dixons, which has stores across Europe, saw a “lively Christmas with plenty of ups and downs”. He added: “These are good numbers but I am mindful that what recovery there is in the UK is still fledgling.”
Halfords said an “excellent” Christmas for festive sales of children’s bicycles had kept its recovery on track. The car parts and bicycle group, which in November announced a return to profits growth, said like-for-like retail sales rose 5.9% over the 15 weeks to January 10.
Strong sales of advent calendars and a new range of chocolates based on festive film The Snowman helped retailer Thorntons to a 6.3% increase in sales during the 14 weeks to January 11, to £93.1million.
Meanwhile, online retailer Ocado bucked the downbeat trend among the big supermarket chains to grow sales by 21% to £111million in the six weeks to January 5.
But at Games Workshop, first half pre-tax profits fell 31% to £7.7million. It blamed the figures on a rapid transition to one-man stores and reduced trading hours.