HOUSE of Fraser, the department store chain, has said it is "delighted" with its performance during the vital Christmas period after recording an 8pc rise in likefor–like sales, better than rival John Lewis.

House of Fraser said like–for–like sales rose 8pc in the six weeks to January 3. This included a 31.2pc increase in online sales and a 4.2pc rise in like–for–like sales across House of Fraser's 59 stores in the UK and Ireland.

This performance is ahead of House of Fraser's main rival, John Lewis, which said like–for–like sales were up 4.8pc compared to Christmas last year and warned that sales in its stores were flat.

The rise in Christmas sales caps an interesting year for House of Fraser. The retailer is controlled by Chinese conglomerate Sanpower, which completed a deal to buy 89pc of the retailer during the year. The remaining 11pc is in the hands of Mike Ashley's Sports Direct, which tried to scupper the deal with Sanpower.

Sanpower has given the go–ahead for House of Fraser to invest £150m in the UK over the next four years in store revamps and developing its online operations. It is also exploring international expansion, including a second location in Abu Dhabi.

House of Fraser's sales figures have been treated with a degree of scepticism in the past by the City because the retailer discloses less information about its performance than publicly–listed rivals. John King, chief executive, said: "We are delighted with our Christmas trading performance. This year we saw a very strong start to the key Christmas season with Black Friday being particularly successful. This positive momentum continued over the entire critical selling period, with a record sales level during the final week before Christmas."

Fashion retailers faced a difficult Christmas on the high street, according to a new survey. BDO said like–for–like sales on the high street fell 1.4pc in December compared with last year, with fashion down 3.1pc and 6.1pc in the last week of the year.

Sophie Bevan, head of retail at BDO, said: "When like–for–like sales dropped by over 3pc in the second week of December, retailers started to get nervous, resulting in early discounting."

Retailers recorded lower sales despite deflation in shop prices easing slightly. The British Retail Consortium said non–food prices were down 2.8pc in December compared with last year, while food prices rose 0.1pc. This compared with a 2.9pc fall in non–food prices in November and a 0.2pc drop in food prices.