Debenhams expects market share gain over summer

LONDON (Reuters) - Retailer Debenhams's (DEB.L) chief executive said on Tuesday he was confident of maintaining the department stores group's good spring sales performance over the summer season.

Earlier, Debenhams, whose shares have fallen around a third in value this month on fears it might struggle to pay off its 1 billion pounds of debt, posted a 1 percent rise in like-for-like sales in the past 10 weeks.

"The numbers speak for themselves," CEO Rob Templeman told reporters, adding the company had brought its trading update forward because of inaccurate market rumours, one of which had suggested the group's like-for-like sales were down 9 percent.

Templeman said May had been a good month, particularly the first two weeks "when the sun came out" and released pent-up demand for summer fashions.

(Reporting by Dan Lalor; editing by Sue Thomas)