Tuesday's half year trading update for Woolworths showed the high street retailer benefiting from good performances in the Big Red Book, the Worth It range and 'indoor' products.
Retail like-for-likes for the 10 weeks to July 28 were up 3.7%, improving on the last figures after 17 weeks, which were +0.8%.

However, retail analysts have pointed out that the cumulative total for the first half was +0.7% although this number was helped by the soft comparatives caused by last year's World Cup and the introduction of the Big Red Book (where online sales have been around 100% up).

Seymour Pierce adds that Woolies, like many retailers, 'could do with a couple of weeks of good weather to shift around £5m of seasonal stock'.

It is understood the successful Worth It range - running at around 3% of sales - will be refreshed with a further 200 lines for Christmas.

Away from the results, talk of a post-Christmas split up of the chain - into entertainment and retail - have been brought back to life following comments at a press conference by chief executive Trevor Bish-Jones.

It is thought that any such split is dependent upon Woolworths producing good half-year results after the next Christmas trading season.