Shoppers snapping up mobile phones and electrical goods helped Argos to a merry Christmas, its owner Great Universal Stores has said.
The group says like-for-like sales at Argos have jumped 6% in the 14 weeks to January 6, with the surge being driven by strong growth in sales of electricals, furniture, mobile phones and jewellery.
The figure excludes jungle.com, the computer website seller which it bought last year.
But sales at GUS's UK home shopping arm are 5% lower than last year, which the group says is in line with the first-half performance, and reflects its continued reduction in spending on customer recruitment.
The group has added sales at Burberry, the luxury fashion brand which it plans to float partially, are up 35%.
Burberry's shops have seen strong like-for-like growth.