New research has revealed that an increase in the number of promotional offers has allowed some of Britain's largest pub and restaurants operators to enjoy a better start to the year than had been expected.

Although figures for January were 12.5 per cent down, the newly-launched Peach Business Tracker showed that aggregated like-for-like sales at 11 leading operators – including JD Wetherspoon, Whitbread and Tragus Group – have increased by 5.6 per cent compared with last year. Run in conjunction with UBS and KPMG, the Peach Business Tracker was developed by Peach Factory and collects monthly sales data to provide an indicator of how the eating and drinking out-of-home market is performing.

Other companies included in the research are Mitchells & Butlers, Spirit Group, Gondola, Bay Restaurants, Town and City Pubs, Barracuda Group, Wagamama and Carluccio's. Peter Martin, Peach Factory chief executive, said: "Far from eating-in being the new eating-out, as some retail chains would have us believe, people are continuing to go out, and the major players are working hard to maintain that.

"This month's figures may be more robust than many had expected, but they suggest that the public continues to want to go out to eat and drink when the experience and offer is right, and that well-run pubs and restaurants provide a welcome respite from the gloom of the downturn." Richard Hathaway, KPMG's head of travel, leisure and tourism, added: "The figures suggest the eating and drinking out sector is showing resilience in the downturn, but the test will be whether January's sales bounce continues and translates to the bottom line.

"The plethora of promotional activity will have helped drive sales in the sector, but could ultimately impact profitability."