Sainsbury’s is celebrating its best-ever Christmas performance after announcing a rise in third-quarter sales of 4.5%.

Sales excluding fuel for the 13 weeks to 3 January were up by 4.5% on a like-for-like basis, buoyed by the company’s best-ever single day of business on 23 December.

The supermarket giant said sales for its online home delivery service had grown by 27% over the quarter, taking a record number of orders in the week before Christmas.

The retailer indicated that non-food had performed well over the past three months and that it had sold nearly three million toys over the course of its seven-day half-price toy promotion in November.

Sainsbury’s, which did not provide figures for total sales, raised further cash over the quarter by selling the freehold on two stores for a combined £86m.

“Sainsbury's good trading performance has continued over the past 13 weeks… with our best-ever Christmas performance completing a good overall third quarter,” said chief executive Justin King. “We also delivered the highest-ever trading performances for both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

“We have continued to develop the Sainsbury's offer and demonstrated our ability to respond to rapidly changing customer needs. We once again improved customer service at Christmas, product availability was strong and we had a great range of quality products and market-leading promotional offers.”

King added: “The economic environment remains particularly challenging and we expect this to continue in 2009. However our continued investment in price and promotions, along with universal appeal and a wide customer base, means we are well positioned to continue our good progress.”

Like Sainsbury’s, supermarket rival Waitrose posted its best-ever day of business on 23 December.