Joules enjoys strong Christmas sales

British premium and lifestyle brand Joules has emerged as one of the winners of the Christmas trading period with sales up 11.7% for the seven-week period to 7 January.

The brand, which was founded 30 years ago and floated in 2016, said its online business had performed particularly well and represented almost half of its total sales. Joules operates 123 stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland and has a global network of 2,000 wholesale stockists.

It said that it had achieved strong growth across all of its product categories which cover menswear, womenswear, kidswear and lifestyle. The business also said it was confident of achieving its full-year profit forecasts.

CEO Colin Porter said: "This good growth was achieved despite the ongoing backdrop of challenging sector trading conditions.

"The Group's performance was again underpinned by the strength of the Joules brand, our growing and loyal customer base, and the flexibility of our 'total retail' model which continues to enable Joules to adapt to changing customer shopping behaviours."