Jewellery retailer Ernest Jones emerged as one of the High Street's brightest performers during the festive trading period.

Owner Signet said the chain had outperformed its rivals with a 7.3 per cent like-for-like sales increase in the crucial eight weeks to Christmas Eve.

The group's other major outlet, H Samuel, struggled more in the "demanding market place" and only managed a 0.4 per cent improvement during the same period.

Chief executive Terry Burman said the overall three per cent like-for-like improvement from the UK business, which also includes Leslie Davis, had been a "relatively robust performance".

He said the popularity of a new range of diamonds and enhanced staff training and advertising lay behind Ernest Jones' improvement, which followed a 14 per cent Christmas sales increase a year earlier.

The figures from Signet come a fortnight after rival Goldsmiths said Christmas like-for-like sales were unchanged on a year earlier.

Signet, which has 1,663 stores on both sides of the Atlantic, achieved an overall 4.7 per cent festive sales lift from those outlets which had been open more than a year.

Total sales were up 5.8 per cent, although the figure was down 1.3 per cent on a reported basis because of the impact of the weaker US dollar.

Despite the adverse exchange rate, Signet said it was now likely that pre-tax profits for the year to February 1 would beat current market expectations of around £187 million.

Mr Burman said the figures suggested fears of a major consumer spending slowdown on the High Street might have been overdone.

He said: "It does not appear as bad as people make out. The rate of growth has slowed but it does not seem like doom and gloom to me."

The company has 613 stores in the UK and Mr Burman said the group was likely to add another 10 to 15 outlets in the coming year. Signet's figures for the 48 weeks to January 4 showed a 5.2 per cent like-for-like improvement.