Marks & Spencer delivered a record Christmas performance, driven by strong food sales.

The high street retailer reported that for the 13 weeks ending 27 December, food sales rose 6.6% over the period, with like-for-like growth of 5.6%, pushing market share to a record high in November, above the 4% milestone.

However, fashion, home and beauty fell 2.5% year on year, in line with expectations. Despite this, performance improved significantly compared with the first half, said CEO Stuart Machin, adding that the “division was getting back on track as we work through the tail end of recovery”.

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Online sales grew, and Christmas ranges performed well – with women’s partywear up 5% and menswear recording its best-ever Christmas Eve – while international sales were up 0.9%.

Meanwhile, elsewhere Ocado Retail sales increased 13.7%, driven by volume growth of 10.7% and order growth of 11%. M&S said sales on Ocado.com increased by 16.3% and accounted for 30% of total Ocado Retail sales.

“We enter this new calendar year full of ambition and laser focused on our plan to reshape M&S for further growth,” Machin added.

“In Food, we have even more first to market innovation coming and further investment in quality and price.”

Looking ahead, M&S said its full-year outlook remains unchanged with the group pointing to plans to accelerate transformation across supply chain, stores and digital.

This summer is set to see the opening of a new Food distribution centre in Bristol, 11 new or renewed stores by year end, and the spring relaunch of its Sparks loyalty programme with improved personalisation and app functionality.

Louise Deglise-Favre, lead apparel analyst at GlobalData, said: “Marks & Spencer’s Christmas results show a split performance, with the retailer outperforming the UK food sector but underperforming in apparel.

“Food was again the main driver, with reported sales up 6.6% and like-for-like sales increasing 5.6%, supported by UK volume growth of 2.3%. M&S continued to attract shoppers this Christmas thanks to its strong execution of seasonal ranges, achieving better-sell-through rates of festive products, allowing it to reduce markdowns compared with the prior year.”