SHOPPERS gave discount retailer TJ Hughes a happy Christmas.

The consumer boom enabled the Liverpool-based firm that opened its first Kent store last year, to report a 12 per cent boost in "like-for-like" sales in the six weeks to January 5.

Sales for all stores, including the new one in the Chequers Centre, Maidstone, were 39 per cent ahead of the same period last year.

The company, which has recently been the subject of takeover speculation, claimed the strong growth was due to "a combination on of new marketing initiatives and improved merchandising together with an improved retail market."

TJ Hughes chairman David Winterbottom said: "The strong sales reported in late November and early December have continued during the peak Christmas trading period.

"Despite the setbacks in the first half year, a healthy recovery in the second half means that TJ Hughes expects to be able to report a satisfactory outcome for the year to end-January 2002."