Majestic's Christmas sales soar

The UK's largest wine specialist delivers 30% of total sales during the period.

The growth was boosted by the purchase of Naked Wines in April.

Majestic Retail, which includes a shop in Shrewsbury, like-for-like sales grew 7.3% supported by strategic investments to reinvigorate sales growth with a new and simplified pricing policy and improved customer experience in store and online.

Majestic Commercial was up 10.2% and Naked Wines by 28.9%.

Chief executive Rowan Gormley said: "This is an encouraging result. Majestic Commercial and Naked Wines continued to grow strongly, and I am particularly heartened to see the Majestic Retail business grow as the impact of our better pricing, better service and better looking stores starts to take effect. However there is still much to do. We are only three months into our three-year plan and although this performance is pleasing it is too early to call it a trend.

"I take my hat off to the 1,000 plus people we have, from Aberdeen to Sydney, who worked flat out during the festive season and deserve a large glass of wine. The teams have embraced our changes and worked exceptionally hard to deliver a better experience for our customers.

"We remain focused on our values of looking after our brilliant teams and suppliers and thank them for their support during the initial steps of transforming Majestic into a truly fantastic business."

Majestic now has more than 200 stores across the UK.