Supermarket chain Sainsbury's had a record Christmas despite showing only a modest pick-up in sales in the past three months.
The group said like-for-like sales, excluding income from new stores, had risen by 0.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to January 6.
Group chief executive Sir Peter Davis said the figures were in line with expectations.
He said: "While the overall like-for-like sales are still only showing modest improvement, I am encouraged by good results from those stores in which we have invested."
Stores that had been upgraded during the year had shown a 7.1 per cent uplift in like-for-likes.
At the same point last year, Sainsbury's showed like-for-like growth of two per cent.
Over Christmas this year, the group had beaten all its expectations.
Sir Peter said: "The emphasis we have given to fresh foods paid off and we traded with good product availability throughout the Christmas period."
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