Primark reports strong sales over the Christmas period

Total Primark sales were up by 15% although they came down to 12% once the weakness of the euro was taken into account

Like other retailers discount clothing chain Primark had to slash the costs of some of its winter items in the unseasonably warm autumn (Getty)

Primark had a "really strong Christmas" despite unseasonably warm winter weather, according to John Bason, finance director of its owner, Associated British Foods.

He revealed that over the 16 weeks to 3 January Primark reported growth in same-store sales in the UK, Ireland and Iberia, even though, like all fashion retailers, it had to cut prices on "hats, coats, scarves and gloves" in September, October and November’s unseasonably warm weather.

"Only around a third of what we sell is seasonally related and in December and after Christmas we’ve needed no mark downs and sales have been really, really strong," he said.

Total Primark sales were up by 15 per cent although they came down to 12 per cent once the weakness of the euro was taken into account.

Primark’s ability to beat its higher-priced rivals was echoed by other value fashionistas reporting today, with H&M saying December sales rose by 15 per cent and Bonmarche reporting a 6.1 per cent increase in like-for-like sales in the five weeks to 27 December.

Bason also highlighted Primark’s French stores which opened for business during the last year and did "phenomenally well in their first year".

The group’s move into the United States is on track, he said, with the first couple of stores due to open before Thanksgiving.

ABF said it expects further expansion through 2015 at Primark, which has already added some 500 million square feet of extra selling space since its financial year ended in September and will put on slightly less than that in the rest of this year.

Groceries also had a good first quarter with Twinings teas taking extra market share in the UK and internationally.

The group has already said operating profits will be lower this year as the three-year changes to the European sugar market regime finally bed down.

That has been exacerbated by the weakness of the euro and lower sugar prices.

Despite this, ABF said that the overall fall in profits would be mitigated by lower interest and tax charges.