Bleak midwinter follows cool summer for BFG

Big Food Group's third quarter was hampered by price deflation, the retailer said. Like-for-like sales fell 3.4 per cent during the period and were down 3.5 per cent for the five weeks to December 31. Sales at frozen food chain Iceland were down 3.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis, slightly better than the previous quarter, when like-for likes slipped 3.9 per cent. Iceland's like-for like sales in the five-week run-up to Christmas dropped 3.1 per cent.

The retailer said the expected lift in sales after a poor summer did not happen, because prices were driven down. It said in a statement: 'Following the seasonal difficulties experienced during the second quarter, the company had expected some recovery after the summer. However, a generally disappointing Christmas on the high street, compounded by a trading environment increasingly characterised by grocery price deflation and increased competition in the convenience sector, meant that this did not materialise.' The retailer's net debt for the 39 weeks to the end of the year was£262 million. The result will be cold comfort to Baugur, whose 95p-a-share bid offer is expected to be put to a shareholder vote on January 21.