Mountain Warehouse is on track to post its largest ever full-year profit after sales climbed during the crucial Christmas trading period.

The outdoors specialist registered a 12% hike in total sales to ÂŁ84.7m during the 13 weeks to January 6. Online sales jumped 24.6% across the same period.

The retailer said sales grew 20% during the Black Friday weekend. Online sales on Black Friday itself passed £1m – the first time Mountain Warehouse has racked up £1m of ecommerce sales in a single day.

Mountain Warehouse opened in seven former New Look stores during the period as it capitalised on the fashion chain’s CVA to expand its portfolio.

It also launched new stores in Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and New Zealand, where it has up to six more planned in 2019.

The chain now trades from 340 stores across nine countries and aims to reach the 400 mark by the middle of 2020.

Mountain Warehouse’s sister chain Neon Sheep took its portfolio to 10 stores during the golden quarter, with its expansion helping total sales swell 550% year on year.

Mountain Warehouse boss Mark Neale said: “The prior year’s performance was exceptional due to the cold weather and widespread snow we saw in the run-up to Christmas 2017. I’m therefore really pleased to report this year’s strong performance despite the unusually mild weather we have been experiencing.

“This puts us well on course for another record year and as a result we are continuing to invest in more stores, new territories and our online business.

“We are also building our infrastructure with new customer service and distribution centres to make sure we keep delivering for the over 10 million people who shop with us each year.”

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