Sainsbury's has had its 'best ever' Christmas sales according to figures released this morning.
The Q3 announcement covering the 13 weeks to January 3 showed total sales up 5.3% excluding fuel - with like for like (lfl) at 4.5%.

Heaping more misery on its more upmarket rival Marks and Spencer who yesterday announced the closure of 25 Simply Food outlets and two smaller general stores.

The supermarket also had 22.6m people through the doors over the festive period, culminating in December 23 becoming the chain's busiest trading day ever.

The firm also said its online sales rose 27% during the quarter, helped by a record number of orders in the week before Christmas.

Sainsbury's chief Executive, Justin King, said: "Our non-food ranges continued to show good growth over the quarter.

"The economic environment remains particularly challenging, and we expect this to continue in 2009," said Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King.

"However, our continued investment in price and promotions, along with universal appeal and a wide customer base means we are well positioned to continue our good progress."