Majestic Wine downbeat on festive sale rise

Majestic has 175 outlets across Britain

Majestic Wine has reported a rise in sales over the Christmas trading season, despite describing the period as "challenging".

For the seven weeks from 13 November to 31 December, the retailer saw like-for-like sales - which pulls out the impact of any new store openings - rise 1.1% from a year earlier.

Its total sales for the same period were up by 5.1%.

Majestic said customers had left their shopping until the "very last moment".

The wine store chain has 175 stores across England, Wales and Scotland.

Its customers have to buy a minimum of six bottles of wine.