British women's fashion chain Monsoon showed strong sales growth over the key Christmas trading period and said today its winter sale had got off to a good start.
The firm - which owns the Monsoon clothing and homewares stores and the Accessorize chain selling scarves, hats and jewellery - said first-half profit rose by nearly a third as it opened 23 new stores in the United Kingdom.
"We recognise that we are currently trading in difficult environments but we are confident that we will deliver a satisfactory performance for the full year," the firm said in a statement.
Monsoon said sales in the six weeks to January 8th rose 13 per cent, stripping out the effect of new and closed stores.
Total sales were up 13 per cent during that period. Pre-tax profit for the six months to November 27th rose 32 per cent to £27.8 million sterling, the firm said.
UK retailers have had a tough Christmas overall, with industry figures showing December retail sales dropped at their fastest annual rate in nearly two years.