Beleaguered retail chain Jessops may have finally turned a corner with reports of stronger sales over the Christmas period.

According to The Scotsman, Jessops sales turned positive over the holiday season with a like-for-like gain of 0.3% in the seven weeks to 06 January.

This comes after the closure of 81 stores - part of a dramatic bid to save the company from increasing losses (around £70m by the end of the year).

The rescue plan also saw the sell-off of excess stock and so the company is currently sitting on around £34 million worth of stock, which is almost half the level reported a year earlier when they peaked at £62m.

Jessops is expected to slash its pre-tax losses to about £2m in the current financial year.

At the news of a better Christmas trading than previously expected, shares recovered 1.3p to stand at 8.4p.

The firm's executive chairman, David Adams, said: "We were prepared for a tough Christmas trading environment and managed the business accordingly. Much remains to be done to return the business to sustainable profitability and this performance over the key Christmas period is an encouraging step."