Henderson Retail has been crowned Independent Retail Chain of the year for the fifth time in the past six years.

The Northern Irish Spar operator delivered a stellar performance to retain its crown. Food sales growth rocketed by 10.5% – miles ahead of the 2.2% growth for the wider Northern Irish grocery market, and even better than the 7.7% growth the previous year. Like-for-like food sales were up 5.4%.