Debenhams maintains profit despite Christmas price cuts

It seems that Christmas has been kind to Debenhams, their shares rose by 20pc yesterday, a direct result of strong trading over Christmas. Debenhams Christmas sales were ahead of what the City expected.

The UK retailer said that their like-for-like sales in the 18 weeks leading up to January 3 fell by 3.5pc. Debenhams did manage to increase the value of their transactions by 0.6pc over the period, which means that they managed to maintain a profit despite the huge price cuts over the holiday season.

A number of City analysts thought that sales would fall by 6pc, shares went up by 5¾ to 34¼p which is an increase of 20.2pc. This is a totally different story to M&S, who have to cut 1,200 jobs; Debenhams had better not get complacent.

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