Blackstar, the Belfast online retailer of videos and DVDs, is considering expanding into related product lines and a "bricks and mortar" venture.

Mr Ian Loughran, managing director of Northern Ireland's best-known dotcom, said the group was currently examining a number of potential business opportunities for Blackstar. "We won't rule anything out at this stage. What we are doing is consolidating our position and improving our existing partnerships with a number of organisations," he said. "We raised money last year and our objective is to go into profitability by the end of this year so finance is not an issue for us. I am still a firm believer in ecommerce and, although we have revised some of our projections, we have grown our sales year on year," Mr Loughran added.

The company is backed by £10 million sterling (#16.33 million) of private equity.

He said Blackstar intended to focus on growing its business in the UK and increasing its share of the UK's £1 billion-a-year DVD market. Mr Loughran said the company had not been adversely affected by the negativity surrounding e-commerce-based businesses in the financial sectors.

Blackstar last year cut its staff numbers from 110 to 70 and closed its London office. It also abandoned any plans to float the company in the immediate future.

"At the time it was one of a number of options being considered but we were never actively progressing the float."