Primark bucked the dismal trend for retailers by showing “very good” sales increases in the 16 weeks to January 3, Associated British Foods, its parent company, said in a trading update.

The discount fashion retailer increased total sales in the period by 18 per cent, aided by new store openings. Primark did not detail the like-for-like figure, which strips out new stores, but analysts thought it could have at least matched the 4 per cent achieved in 2008.