Retailer's half-year profits up by 67pc

The Bournemouth-based group, which has 13 department stores, reported pre-tax profits of 909,000 in the six months to May 1, up from 543,000.

It said better buying tactics and new concessions such as Noa Noa boosted interim womenswear sales compared with a year earlier, while recent initiatives in menswear were also producing encouraging results.

Beales has developed a new own-label young menswear brand called Redi and launched a new shirt, tie and cufflink range named Broadbents and Boothroyds after its store in Southport.

But the group said demand for "big ticket" items such as furniture remained under pressure amid consumer caution, offsetting the improvement in fashion sales.

Turnover in the half-year fell 1.8 per cent to 26.2m, although Beales was able to shore up results by cutting costs.

The group posted losses of 990,000 in its last financial year but said yesterday it was "confident" that action to turn around sales and rein in costs would help it return to full-year profitability.

It wants to snap up more stores, following the recent addition of Robbs of Hexham, Northumberland, to its portfolio.

"We have the infrastructure to manage a larger portfolio of stores, so that any such acquisitions should be profit enhancing," added the group.