Asda's best-ever Christmas sales

SUPERMARKETS group Asda today claimed its 'best-ever' Christmas sales, with customer numbers up an 'extraordinary' 15% to more than 10m. The chain, now part of US group Wal-Mart, does not release trading figures, but said like-for-like sales growth from 1 December to 24 December was 'low double-digit'.

Sales at the six Asda Wal-Mart Supercentres totalled more than £30m, 85 stores each took in excess of £3m and the group's market share growth was double the industry average.

In the 12 days up to Christmas Asda sold 2m pounds of sprouts (enough to fill 5,000 supermarket trolleys) more than 1m turkeys (they would take 465 years to cook in an ordinary oven) and more than 50m mince pies (almost enough for everybody in the UK to have one).

Electrical sales rose 52% on last year, helped by demand for DVD and 14-inch TV sets. Sales of cut-price 'must-have' DVD films - this year including Shrek, Bridget Jones's Diary and Tomb Raider - were up four times, and book/newspaper sales rose 26%, boosted by Harry Potter boxed sets and Pamela Stephenson's biography of her husband Billy Connolly, each of which sold nearly 50,000 copies.