Coinciding with the news that Marks & Spencer had bought 28 Iceland stores for£38 million, Iceland foods chief executive Malcolm Walker unveiled a 16.1 per cent like-for-like sales increase for December and further stoked the long running retail spat between him and the former Big Food Group management.
He said: 'We have delivered a very strong uplift in Iceland's performance since the demise of The Big Food Group in February 2005. This recovery that completely eluded the previous management during their four years in control, is now so well on track that we have become the fastest growing food retailer in the UK in terms of like-for-like sales.'
The retailer said next month would mark the beginning of an expansion phase, with the publication of a requirements list of up to 60 new stores across the UK.
Iceland ran a massive advertisement campaign this Christmas, featuring celebrity Kerry Katona, which is said to have boosted sales. For the quarter October to December, like-for-like sales were up 14.8 per cent and total sales by 9.3 per cent.
Increases in sales were achieved despite the closure of the group's home shopping arm, which turned over£30 million a year, and 46 stores during the period.
Walker added that the turnaround of Iceland was an improvement against the condition of business 'when we took it over from The Big Food group in February 2005'.
Iceland had suffered from four years of successive decline in like-for-like sales and diminishing market share.
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