Asda chief executive Andy Bond today declared 2007 the grocer’s “best ever” festive season.

He said: "There’s no doubt consumers were feeling the pinch in the run-up to Christmas. They left doing their shopping later than last year and sought out retailers that combined great quality and low prices. Yet again, that's what we delivered at Asda.

"We served a million more customers in the week before Christmas compared with the previous year. As a result, we had our best ever Christmas, with the strongest performances in both fresh food and clothing."

Bond also confirmed that trading in the new year had got off to a good start. He added: "Customers are definitely tightening their belts, but I believe that value retailers – which deliver low prices and great quality week in, week out – will be the winners in 2008."