The retailer said that strong Christmas trading was underpinned by sales of the newly launched luxury Liberty of London fashion collection. In the post-Christmas Sale week, sales at the store rose 3 per cent.
Liberty chief executive Iain Renwick said: 'Our retail trading performance through Christmas has been very encouraging, all the more so in light of the post-July trading climate, which has made London's West End a challenging retail environment.
'Although we view the year ahead with some caution, we will be completing the consolidation of our retailing activities into the iconic Tudor building by April. While this is expected to reduce headline gross sales figures slightly, we are confident of the positive effect this will have on both sales densities and profitability over the full year.'
Richard Ratner analyst at Liberty's house broker Seymour Pierce, said the good performance had not been at the expense of margin, which he believes is ahead as a result of higher participation of own-label product. He said: 'While, as a matter of caution, we are keeping our estimates unchanged until we see the effect on sales of the consolidation into the Tudor building, there may be room for upgrades.'
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