Christmas sales boost Debenhams

Debenhams has reported stronger sales growth as customers sought bargains in the post-holiday clearance and responded to a new marketing campaign.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 2.4% in the eight weeks ended Mar 3, the retailer said yesterday. Growth for the 26 weeks ended on that date was 0.3%, excluding VAT, the company said. Debenhams runs 170 stores in Britain, Ireland and Denmark.

Singer Capital Markets analyst Matthew McEachran said sales were “slightly better” than expected.