SuperGroup chief amazed as rivals cut prices in Christmas run-up

The chief executive of SuperGroup, the fashion retailer, has said he is shocked by the raft of retailers already putting on sales before the critical Christmas trading period.

Julian Dunkerton made his comments as the owner of the Superdry brand posted a rise in underlying sales ahead of its high street rivals, many of whom are discounting heavily to shift stock, in its second quarter.

He said: "I am flabbergasted by some of the approaches to discounting. I think it shows the winners and losers on the high street. I personally would not discount at this time of year."

He added: "We don't go on sale in our main stores," although it does discount in its outlet shops.

SuperGroup, which has 81 UK shops, increased its UK underlying sales by 5.8 per cent over the quarter to 28 October, which was an improvement on the 1.7 per cent rise in the previous three months.

This helped shares in the retailer, which floated at 500p in March 2010, rise by 30.5p to 690p.

Total revenues at SuperGroup, which has stores in Europe and the Middle East, jumped by 20.3 per cent to £98.4m.