Debenhams today reported its best ever December as like-for-like sales rose 5% in the five weeks to January 5. The results were met positively by the City.

“Debenhams’ strong results are indicative of the Christmas winners so far, with both online retailers and department stores seemingly enjoying great festive periods.

“Following positive updates from John Lewis and House of Fraser, Debenhams too has managed to benefit from the trend of consumers looking for high quality products offered at good value. Investment in getting the right brand mix, creating demand through advertising and communicating its competitive pricing has proved a potent strategy for a retailer that has in the past struggled to engage shoppers.” – Matt Piner, Conlumino

“We maintain our view that Debenhams is still at the relatively early stages of sales-led recovery with an excellent management team and strategy in place.” - Sanjay Vidyarthi, Espirito Santo

“Today’s update looks good on the face of it, with impressive 5% like-for-like sales growth for the five weeks to January 5, but October and November must have been tough, as for the full 14 week period like-for-like sales were only up by 2.9%.

“As ever with Debenhams, the real key is in the gross margin, given their discounting approach, and today’s surprise is that, in contrast to Next and John Lewis, Debenhams feel that there was more promotional activity on the High Street at Xmas, although it has only resulted in gross margins rising by 10 basis points rather than 20 basis points, which is hardly a disaster.” – Nick Bubb, independent analyst

“Like-for-like sales were up 2.9% in the 18 weeks to January 5. December was very strong, up 5% like-for-like against a tough comp. Online sales were very impressive, up 39% year-on-year – significantly ahead of the industry as a whole.” – Bethany Hocking, Investec

“We expect UK profitability to remain under pressure as Debenhams has limited space growth over the next 18 months and the Oxford Street refurbishment costs to carry.” - Kate Calvert, Seymour Pierce