Outdoor clothing specialist Mountain Warehouse has toasted an “outstanding” Christmas trading performance as like-for-likes jumped 13.6%, Retail Week can reveal.

The London-headquartered retailer, which looked at a possible IPO last year, said total sales in the six weeks to January 1 rose 28.8%.

The retailer, which has 262 stores across seven countries, sold more than 250,000 hats and pairs of gloves, around 500,000 pairs of socks and 100,000 ski jackets over the period.

It comes after Mountain Warehouse posted a slight fall in half-year pre-tax profits to £4m after investment in new stores.

Boss Mark Neale, who launched the business in 1997 as a single shop, branded its Christmas trading performance “outstanding”. He added: “We continue to believe that there is plenty of life in UK high streets.”

Growth plan

Mountain Warehouse opened new stores in Lymington, Lewes, Dartmouth, Durham and Aviemore in the run-up to Christmas.

Looking ahead, Neale said: “We will continue to grow our store base, and create more jobs in 2017.”

In the six-week period, the retailer’s international sales jumped 71%, while online sales rose 32%.

Mountain Warehouse’s plans for an IPO were put on ice last year as Neale told Retail Week after the Brexit vote that attempting an IPO would have been “like pushing water uphill”.