HIGH Street retailer Woolworths has seen its revival strategy pay off - with extra jobs up for grabs as well in the run-up to Christmas.

The national sweets-to-music giant, which has stores in Southampton, Eastleigh, Romsey, Totton and Lymington, said it had reduced losses and grown like-for-like sales in the first half.

The company said moves to improve the availability of products, cut costs and manage stock better had lifted its operational performance.

Customers embraced the changes at Woolworths' 900 stores, helping sales rise 1.7 per cent to £1.1 billion.

The famous company is going through a recovery phase and is trailing new store formats and fresh product ranges in an effort to head off competition from supermarkets and other general retailers.

Woolworths is aiming to become known for its children's offerings and for celebrations such as Easter, Mother's Day and the crucial Christmas period, and said customers were responding well to this strategy.

Looking ahead to Christmas, Woolworths said its plans were already well advanced, with 6,500 additional staff being recruited and more than 1,000 extra tills being laid on, including more than 600 hand-held terminals.

Reporting figures for the six months to August 2, the company said like-for-like sales rose by 0.9 per cent at its main chain of stores and by 1.8 per cent at its Big W outlets.

The trend improved during the half and beyond, with like-for-like sales up 2.5 per cent in the second quarter following a decline in the first of 0.4 per cent.

Chief executive Trevor Bish-Jones said: "The sales improvement seen in the second quarter has continued throughout the first five weeks of the second half and we look forward to the all-important Christmas period with confidence.''

Woolworths, which demerged from B&Q-to-Comet group Kingfisher two years ago, said pre-tax losses were cut by 21 per cent to £36.4m.

Investors will get an interim dividend of 0.36p a share, up from 0.325p in 2002.