Frozen food retailer Big Food Group has continued its slump into the red, after sales slipped almost 7% in the six months to 13 September.

The group, formerly known as Iceland, blamed its promotional strategy, which it said was "too aggressive" and had taken its toll on profits.

But chief executive Bill Grimsey said the group's performance had now begun to improve and that it was concentrating on the all-important Christmas trading period.

BFG added that trials in the new-format Iceland stores had shown a 15% improvement in sales.

From bad to worse

In the 24 weeks to 13 September, Iceland sales fell by 6.7% while the group's cash-and-carry chain Booker saw a 0.8% lift in sales.

Profits in the period slumped from �16.7m to �6.6m.

The group said this was largely due to a change in promotional strategy at its core Iceland frozen food chain.

"This was swiftly recognised and corrective action taken with the result that this business unit is now trading profitably," said BFG in a statement.

Despite its assertion that things were now recovering, investors initially seemed unimpressed.

Shares fell a further 9% in early trading to 54 pence.

However, analysts said the numbers were slightly less bad than feared and pointed to improvements in Iceland's profitability.

Shares recovered to 57.5p by mid-morning, although they have still lost more than half their value since February, at the time of changing the company name from Iceland to Big Food Group, when shares stood at 140p.