Super Retail Group has reported record sales due in part to excellent Black Friday and Boxing Day sales.

A strong first-half sales update with the business reporting preliminary first-half revenue to December 30 of around $2bn and profit before taxes between $200m and $203m saw shares in the Company hit an all-time high of $16.92 in intra-day trading before trimming gains to trade near $16.82 around noon AEDT.

Investors liked what they saw despite Bloomberg’s consensus for sales being $2.03bn.

Sales at BCF jumped 8 per cent with revenues at $484m. Supercheap – the largest contributor to earnings – saw sales rise 4 per cent and reported revenue of $760m, while Rebel pulled in $673m, but its sales dipped 1 per cent. Macpac revenue totalled $105m with sales increasing by 4 per cent.

Group chief executive Anthony Heraghty said the owner of the Supercheap Auto, Rebel, BCF and Macpac retail chains traded well over the cyber sales and Christmas holiday trading period. “We maintained positive like-for-like sales growth in the first half, however cost of living pressures on the consumer did lead to a more constrained retail trading environment at the end of the second quarter.

“Despite this, our customer proposition and the resilience of the lifestyle and leisure categories in which we operate underpin our performance in challenging economic conditions where consumers are sharpening their focus on value.”