House of Fraser, the department store chain, has reported "record" sales over the key Christmas trading period.

The firm, which has 59 shops across the UK and Ireland, said like-for-like sales rose 8% for the six weeks to 3 January, compared with last year.

It said sales in the week before Christmas rose 6.8%, marking a fresh record for the 165-year old firm.

The retailer's strong performance was driven by online sales, which increased by 31.2%.

Similarly to rival John Lewis, it said Black Friday was "particularly successful", with online sales up 125% on the previous year.

"We are delighted with our Christmas trading performance," said House of Fraser chief executive John King.

The firm said it planned to continue to invest in its online offering this year, as well as refurbishing more stores.

"Given this further investment, we believe that we are well placed to continue to grow in 2015," added Mr King.

Last year, the privately held firm sold a majority stake in its business to Chinese conglomerate Sanpower, giving it an 89% share in the company.