However, it added sales would be 1% lower than last year on a like-for-like basis.
It said its like-for-like sales were 5.1% lower in the 14 weeks to 29 December.
That is the fastest rate of like-for-like sales growth since December 2009, the group said.
BBC: UK retail sales grew at fastest rate for years in February
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said like-for-like retail sales were up 2.7% on the previous year.
BBC: UK retail sales grew at fastest rate for years in February
During the six-month period, HMV said its like-for-like sales were 10.2% lower than a year earlier.
The issue of a like-for-like replacement of Trident is one that has divided the coalition.
It said its UK bus business continued to recover with 2.1% increase in like-for-like revenues.
In an interview with the Guardian, he said a like-for-like replacement for Trident was not necessary.
On a like-for-like basis, food sales rose 0.3% but sales of general merchandise dropped 3.8%.
Like-for-like sales - which strip out the impact of new stores - fell 0.9%.
But retail annual like-for-like sales fell 3.2% with weakness in the electrical and computing sector.
Like-for-like UK sales were 0.6% higher in the quarter, helped by a 4% increase in food sales.
The BRC said these marked the highest like-for-like sales increases on a quarterly basis since December 2009.
By contrast, sales of its games and technology products were 6% higher, again on a like-for-like basis.
Like-for-like or underlying sales rose 0.9% in the period, or 0.4% excluding the benefit of enlarging some stores.
The survey, which covers the six biggest euro-area countries, uses branded goods where possible, to allow like-for-like comparisons.
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And Cardiff-based Peacocks saw sales for the five weeks to 1 January jump 28%, with like-for-like sales ahead 9%.
It added that like-for-like sales were down 7% in the past 11 weeks.
The coalition is split, with the Tories backing a like-for-like replacement for Trident, and the Lib Dems opposing it.
Like-for-like sales increased 2% and gross margins were described as "in line" year-on-year.
HMV's like-for-like sales were down 12.1%, as it continues to be hit by increased competition, particularly from music downloads.
Like-for-like sales - which ignore new store openings - rose by 6.3% in the 6 weeks to 5 January.
The group, which owns 700 pubs in the UK, saw like-for-like sales rise 0.4% over the past 11 weeks.
The increases came on top of Scottish increases in May of 4.8% in like-for-like sales and 7.3% in total sales.
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Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander is currently leading a review into alternatives to a like-for-like replacement.
Group sales were up 4.5% in the 14 weeks to 29 December, while in the UK like-for-like sales climbed 3.7%.
Like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of new stores, rose by 3.3% in the six months to 1 September.
But like-for-like sales at Superdrug were almost flat - up just 0.6% - blamed on tough trading and fierce price competition.
Demand for electrical goods at Christmas spurred trading at Comet where like-for-like sales were up 6.2%, helped by strong television sales.
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