Loss-making crystal and china maker Waterford Wedgwood said today it had enjoyed strong sales over Christmas meaning revenues for the business year to date were now flat after a first half fall.
"Across virtually all of our brands, our retailers saw significantly higher sales over Christmas," Chief Executive Peter Cameron said in a trading statement.
"As a result, our leading retailers and our products had their best Christmas for five years."
Shares in the company, which is best known for its Waterford crystal glassware and Wedgwood and Royal Doulton ceramics, jumped on the news and were up 13.3 per cent at €0.085.
Waterford Wedgwood, which has been struggling to reverse a prolonged slump in demand, in November posted an operating loss of €13.9 million for the six months to end September.
That was much less than the €37.9 million loss seen in the same period of 2005, however, and the company said at the time it had largely arrested its sales decline.
Revenue in the period fell 2.8 per cent, or 1.6 per cent once the impact of exchange rate fluctuations had been stripped out, to €352.5 million.
The company said today, however, that the strong performance over the key Christmas period meant the group's year to date sales since April 1st were now broadly in line with the same period last year.