House of Fraser defies weather to report record trading figures

The group, which also owns Edinburgh landmark Jenners, defied the difficult winter conditions to post an 8.5 per cent increase in sales in the five weeks ending 8 January. Its performance outstripped the 7.6 per cent growth recorded by John Lewis over the same spell.

It attributed the growth partly to the strong performance of Biba, its re-launched 1960s fashion label. Sales of brands including Linea, Episode and Kenneth Cole were up by more than 50 per cent over the period.

House of Fraser, which has 61 stores in the UK and Ireland, also reported that its online revenues exceeded the performance of any individual store during the peak period for the first time.

Sales on its website grew by 120 per cent over the period after the company expanded the range of products available online and facilitated in-store collection of products bought on the web.

John King, chief executive of House of Fraser, said its stores benefited from being able to provide a one-stop shop experience during the wintry conditions: "It's a case of park your car, in you walk and you have something for everyone on every floor. We saw that across every category."

He also noted that sales of outdoor wear and handbags were particularly high.

Total UK high street sales dropped by 0.5 per cent in the five weeks to 2 January, according to accountants BDO. Fashion sales growth fell by just 1 per cent despite the adverse weather, with retailers selling stout boots and warm coats cashing in on the icy conditions.

Total sales for December were boosted a pre-Hogmanay rush as shoppers sought to beat last week's VAT rise from 17.5 to 20 per cent.

Don Williams, head of retail and wholesale at BDO, said: "Snow is a convenient distraction for retailers with deeper underlying problems. While these figures are disappointing, put in context of the poor weather, a dip of less than 1 per cent is not nearly as bad as it could have been."