Spar UK has announced strong results for Christmas with total convenience store sales rising by 10.39% since December 14, according to Jerry

Marwood, the company’s managing director. He said figures showed investment in stores had helped boost performance of both existing and new stores. "We have worked very hard to try and keep stores vibrant, fresh and innovative, as well as offering great promotions and discounts on key products."

He said the snow and cold weather had resulted in good sales for Spar overall with stores seeing a steady trade in the run-up to Christmas, with most stores reporting a good flow of customers braving the extreme weather for their last-minute purchases.

"We were very pleased by the 6.48% like-for-like sales increase in our first seven trading months of the year (May-November), but results over the past few weeks have pushed us further ahead which is very encouraging.

Marwood added that he remained optimistic for 2010.