Christmas sales: golden brooch for UK retailers

British fashion retailers have had quite a positive kick off the new year thanks to record sales during the Christmas period. John Lewis, House of Fraser, Next, Debenhams or even battered New Look, have bettered their expectations

for the coming months.

After a hiking Christmas sales period, Next expects annual earnings to be up from previous forecasts of 590 million pounds to 620 million. It said total sales rose 3.9 percent between November 1 and December 24 and in line with guidance.

Meanwhile, “a rush for handbags and shoes helped House of Fraser enjoy a record Christmas with like-for-like sales up 6.3 percent over the six-week festive shopping period,” published ‘The Telegraph’. House of Fraser said it had seen record sales in the two weeks leading up to Christmas.

The upscale department store said earlier this week that it had recorded a "particularly strong performance" from fashion and beauty sales. In a statement, House of Fraser chairman Don McCarthy said that 2012 had been "challenging" for retailers, and it remained "difficult to predict" when the economy and consumer confidence would improve. Nevertheless, the retailer expected to report full-year earnings in line with previous expectations. Online sales have proved to be a nice surprise for House of Fraser, registering a 48 percent increase during 2012.

Its peer New Look registered online sales up by more than 50 percent. New Look also said it had enjoyed a "significant" rise in profit margins, thanks to fewer price cuts and "tight management" of stock. UK like-for-like sales grew 3.7 percent in the 14 weeks to December 29, with gross profit margins “significantly ahead” of last year, reported Bloomberg.

Last in reporting record sales during the festive period was Debenhams, which announced Tuesday that despite the "good sales momentum" in the 18 weeks to January 5, with like-for-like sales up 2.9 percent; "With Christmas falling on a Tuesday this year, it was widely expected that customers would focus their shopping activities later in the season and this proved to be the case with Debenhams," the group said in its interim management statement on Tuesday.