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Majestic posts sales rise in “challenging” Christmas
Majestic has posted modest sales rises over the Christmas period as supermarket deals proved more tempting for consumers.
The multiple-specialist store announced that its like-for-like sales rose 1.1% in the seven weeks from 13 November to 31 December.
Total store sales were up 5% over the same period and like-for-like sales in the first 39 weeks of the financial year grew by 0.8%
Chief executive, Steve Lewis, said that, “while we saw encouraging sales growth over the period, the Christmas trading season was challenging with many consumers leaving their shopping until the very last moment.”
When compared to Christmas 2011 results, which saw like-for-like sales hit 4% and store sales grow by 8%.
Nonetheless, Lewis said that it was difficult to build further on the strong growth shown in 2011, “if you look at the way trading has progressed this year (2012),” he added, “it has got better over Christmas. It’s not all doom and gloom.”
Majestic also announced that it was receiving increasing business from the on-trade and Lewis added that there was “considerable potential for further growth”, particularly following the collapse of the main on-trade supplier WaverleyTBS last year.