Bargain retailer B&M has announced it achieved record levels of sales over Christmas.
The firm, which has its headquarters in Merseyside , said it had achieved the feat despite a "slower performance than anticipated" during the run up to the festive period.
According to a third quarter trading update released on Friday, B&M hopes to open six new UK stores during the last financial quarter, after they achieved a revenue growth of 8.8% - up to £957m.
Revenue for B&M's German business Jawoll continued to fall, this time by 1.5%. B&M said its strategic review into Jawoll, initially announced in November , continues - with an announcement to be made "in due course".
Simon Arora, chief executive, said: “Against the backdrop of a difficult UK retail environment with reduced shopper footfall and political uncertainty, our core B&M UK business generated continued growth and delivered a record level of peak season sales.
"Cumulatively, B&M UK has achieved +2.3% like for like sales growth during the financial year to date, albeit with a slower performance than anticipated during the run up to Christmas.
"Overall the business delivered a good quarter operationally. Costs were well controlled and, combined with our usual strong focus on cash gross margins, yielded a profitable outcome. We were also able to exit the period with normal seasonal inventory levels.
"Our new store programme delivered 15 gross and 12 net new B&M UK stores in the quarter, and this year’s openings as a whole have performed better than expectations.
"I would like to thank our teams across all our fascias for their hard work in delivering the biggest ever Golden Quarter for the B&M Group."
The firm's other brands include convenience store chain Heron Foods, which achieved revenue of £95.6m - up from £89.9m on the same period last year.
Describing the firm's outlook for the coming months, the statement added: "We have seen a positive start to January trading but the outlook for the rest of the quarter could, as always, be impacted by any adverse weather conditions which may occur over the remainder of the winter.
"We look forward to 2020 with confidence."
