Fortnum's sales surge as 'Brexit tourists' boost UK stores

Luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason has reported a Christmas sales surge as separate figures showed retailers were lifted by "Brexit tourists" taking advantage of the weak pound.

Upmarket tea and bakery treats helped Fortnum's to a 16% rise in like-for-like sales over the five weeks to 1 January despite a year of "great financial uncertainty and upheaval".

Fortnum's said the growth was underpinned by a surge in online sales, up 22% on the previous year.

Its products were dispatched to 121 countries around the world in the run-up to Christmas.

Caviar, hand-carved smoked salmon and white truffles were among products registering impressive rises while traditional Christmas hamper sales grew by 19%.

It comes as figures from card processor Worldpay suggest UK high street spending on foreign bank cards was up 22%, or £130m, year-on-year in December to £725m.

The report suggested high-end boutiques and department stores in London's West End were among the biggest beneficiaries from a surge in spending led by visitors from Hong Kong and China.

Fortnum's figures showed its 300-year-old flagship store in London's Piccadilly saw a record 27,000 shop visits in the Saturday (Shenzhen: 002291.SZ - news) prior to Christmas.

There was also growth over the period for its outlets at St Pancras and Heathrow.

Chief (Taiwan OTC: 3345.TWO - news) executive Ewan Venters said: "At the end of a year of great financial uncertainty and upheaval, these are very encouraging results."

Fortnum's update caps a strong week for Christmas trading updates in the retail sector, led by a better-than-expected performance from Marks & Spencer (Frankfurt: 534418 - news) .

Waitrose also enjoyed strong like-for-like sales growth, with its high-end ranges particularly strong, as did department store John Lewis .

Elsewhere on Friday, pub chain owner Mitchells & Butlers (LSE: MAB.L - news) said it had enjoyed an encouraging performance with like-for-like sales growth accelerating to 4.7% in the four weeks to 7 January.

However the group, which owns brands such as All Bar One and O'Neills, reiterated that rising costs will mean profit margins will be lower for the current financial year. Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) opened 5% higher.