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Majestic Wine took over Naked Wines in a £70m deal in 2015 Reuters

Majestic Wine has reported a solid 12.4% increase in underlying sales in the 10 weeks to 2 January period, despite difficult trading conditions.

Christmas sales at Majestic Retail were up a record 7.5% on a like-for-like basis, compared to a 7.3% increase in the previous Christmas period.

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Naked Wines sales jumped 30% while sales at Lay & Wheeler were up 62%.

"Delivering strong like for likes in a tough market is a tribute to the hard work that our people put in – right across the business," Majestic Wine chief executive Rowan Gormley said.

"It is also particularly pleasing that both Naked Wines and Majestic Commercial traded in line with expectations and Lay & Wheeler has maintained its strong growth.

"Our transformation plan is working and we remain on track to achieve our £500m sales goal. We said that we would be better prepared for Christmas than ever – and the numbers show that we did what we said we would do."

Majestic Wine achieves around a third of its total annual sales during the Christmas period.

The firm said it expects sales for the financial year to be in line with expectations.