Retailer Quiz has reported lower sales over the seven-week Christmas period. 

The Glasgow-based fashion business said group sales were down 9.3% over the period to January 4, with a slide in online sales.

Shares sank 12% in early trading on Wednesday, down 2.3p at 16.45p.

It said the performance was "disappointing" but profits were in line with expectations and the company added that it has made "good progress" with cost reductions and margin improvements.

Quiz said group online revenues slumped by 14.8% over the period, driven by the retailer's decision to cut ties with "unprofitable" third-party partnerships.

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Weaker sales through some of its remaining partner websites also contributed to "significantly lower" online third-party revenues, it said.

Its own Quiz websites saw revenues increase by 5.9% over the period, driven by a rise in full-price sales as the company reduced its number of promotions against the previous year.

Sales from the group's high street stores and concessions also slid, falling 7% for the festive period.

Quiz said this was driven by the decline in footfall it has witnessed over the past year.

Nevertheless, the company said it was "pleased" with its sales across the important Black Friday weekend.

Chief executive Tarak Ramzan hailed Quiz's cash position and said the group is confident it can improve financial performance and grow revenues.

He said: "Whilst the trading backdrop has remained challenging, it is disappointing to report a decline in revenues in the period.

"We were pleased that revenues through our own websites grew in the period with less promotional activity than in the prior year, which underpins our confidence in the health of the Quiz brand.

"We have a clear customer focus and a flexible model that the board continues to believe will enable Quiz to adapt to the changing retail environment and return to profitable growth in the medium term."

Housebuilder Persimmon saw the number of homes it completed fall by 4% in the last year, as the company attempts to improve the quality of its building work following a report into its work practices.

Executives were told that they were focusing too much on building as many houses as possible - but failing to ensure the homes were habitable for the long term.

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The fall means full-year revenues hit £3.65 billion in the 12 months to December 31, down 2.4% compared with a year earlier. The average selling price was just £137 more than a year ago, at £215,700, the company added.

Dave Jenkinson, chief executive, said: "Delivering the maximum benefit to our customers from our quality and service improvement initiatives will continue to be my top priority for 2020.

"I am pleased with the progress we have made in 2019 and there is more to do.

"Action taken to maintain our increased levels of work in progress investment, the increase in quality assurance and customer service resources, and our plans for the implementation of the recommendations of the recent Independent Review, will all add to our momentum."

Published in December and led by Stephanie Barwise QC, the report found Persimmon did not properly install fire barriers in homes.

Mr Jenkinson added that more details and a fuller response to the independent report and an update on the UK housing market would follow in the next few months.

Revolution Bars raised a glass to the seventh year in a row of record Christmas trading, as it revealed each of its 74 bars banked £65,000 a week on average.

The company said like-for-like sales over the four weeks leading up to New Year's Day were up 4% compared with the same period last year.

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And in the six months to December 28 sales were up 3.4% - or 1.2% on a like-for-like basis - to £81.2 million.

Executives at the chain, which trades as Revolution Bars and Revolucion de Cuba, are keen to focus on upgrading their current estate - rather than open new sites - and have been closing down under-performing bars.

Chief executive Rob Pitcher said the trading was "further evidence that our key initiatives are driving both operational and financial improvement".

He added: "Considerable strides have been made in rebuilding customer loyalty and driving sales and profit from the existing estate, creating a stronger business with significant cash generation.

"Whilst external cost pressures persist, we will continue to manage cautiously, using excess cash to reduce indebtedness ... before we will consider further expansion opportunities."