The exception was Evolution's ever industrious retail guru Nick Bubb, who returned to his desk today like the rest of us. He thinks the post-Christmas sales had started strongly, but said he thinks it was too little to make up for the very disappointing pre-Christmas period. However, he noted a positive statement from Brown & Jackson, which was another stock on his list of possible groups that would be forced to issue a statement. However, on Friday it announced that it would not be updating the market until Jan 19th. The broker thinks the announcement was brave and makes it sound as if Christmas may have gone to plan. He is still nervous, however, and feels if the company hits its revised 8 million pounds pre-tax profits forecast it will have done well. The broker maintained its "reduce" stance on the stock and targets no more than 59p. The shares lost 0.5p to 63p.