RETAILERS enjoyed a healthy but unspectacular Christmas, official figures have shown.

High street sales for December rose 0.1 per cent against November, while that figure was 4.4 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Both figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) came in lower than market expectations.

Analysts had pencilled in a rise of 0.6 per cent over the previous month and a 4.6 per cent increase over the same period last year.

The ONS said strong sales of household goods had been one of the driving forces of the year-on-year growth figure.

Statistician Sam Brown said the figures showed a solid performance from retailers. ''The December data shows much the same level of underlying growth as that reported for much of 2000.

''In the wider context, December's year-on-year growth in total retail sales value was strong, given additional spending in December 1999 on the millennium celebrations.''

The ONS said total value of sales through the till came in at about £26.94bn, more than five per cent higher than last year. During the three months to December, it said volume of sales by mainly food stores rose 0.7 per cent.

lFashion group Arcadia today said sales for the last five months had jumped 4.3 per cent ahead.

The fashion retailer, which last year posted losses of £153m after being hit by falling prices and a restructuring programme, said it was encouraged by the underlying performance of the business over the last 20 weeks.

For the 20 weeks to January 13, sales of its ongoing brands - excluding Richards, Principles for Men and SU214 - were up 2.3 per cent, trading from 5.3 per cent less space.

Like for like sales during the period were up 4.3 per cent.