High Courts

COURTS, the furniture retailer, turned the tables on its rivals yesterday when it reported surging sales just days after MFI, DFS and Carpetright had warned of severe slowdowns. Courts said sales in its two- month winter sale period to the end of February were up by 28.6 per cent. Sales in January were up by 38 per cent.

Elsewhere, John Lewis, the department store group, said it had found the going tougher in some areas of furnishings. Sales in the week to 28 February were up by just 3 per cent on the same week last year.