Pretax profits at the Brown Thomas chain climbed by 25 per cent to €24.19 million last year on the back of a 12.5 per cent rise in sales to €211.99 million, the group said yesterday.

As the retail boom continues apace, Brown Thomas chief executive Dalton Philips said the group's performance in the current period was "well ahead of last year".

Brown Thomas does not break down the performance for individual brands and business units, which comprise landmark department stores in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick, 25 A-Wear stores throughout the State and three BT2 stores.

But the latest accounts for Brown Thomas Group Ltd, soon to be lodged in the Companies Office and covering the 12 months to the end of January 2005, show that the chain's operating profit margin rose in the period to 12.18 per cent from 9.5 per cent a year earlier.

This improvement follows a 3 per cent fall in sales in the year to the end of January 2004, although pretax profits showed a rise by 6 per cent that year.

Sales net of Vat grew to €211.99 million from €188.3 million a year earlier while operating profits rose to €25.82 million from €17.88 million.

The sales figure includes concession income of €15.12 million from fashion labels with outlets in the Brown Thomas stores, but they exclude the value of transactions at those concession outlets. Concession income was up from €10.88 million the previous year.

When the value of sales at the concessions are factored into the figures, the value of all transactions conducted in Brown Thomas outlets rose to €254.58 million from €221.33 million the previous year.

The figures were recorded on the watch of Mr Philips' predecessor Paul Kelly, who now heads the Selfridges chain in Britain, a sister company within the group controlled by Canadian businessman Galen Weston.

The accounts indicate that Mr Kelly retains an interest-free loan from the company of €635,000, which is repayable on demand.

After a €5 million dividend in 2003, Mr Weston took a dividend holiday in the most recent year.

Mr Philips said the group continues to make "significant" investments to upgrade its department stores.

The group has opened two new BT2 fashion stores in Dublin, although the biggest expansion has been at the A-Wear chain. With two new Irish openings last year, the chain has now entered the British market with a concession outlet in the Birmingham branches of Selfridges.

This is in addition to four Irish openings earlier this year - in Sligo, Navan and at new shopping centres in Dundrum, Co Dublin and Mahon in Cork - and two other Irish outlets, which are scheduled for opening later this year at undisclosed locations.

Mr Philips said the outlook this year for the entire Brown Thomas group is positive. "We're bullish. We're very bullish," he said. "The Celtic Tiger from our perspective is roaring ahead. . . The indicators are very good. You've got good GDP growth. Inflation is tight."

The group had €105.4 million in its profit and loss account at the end of the year, up from €84.59 million a year earlier, and €19.59 million cash in the bank, up from €16 million.

It had a net cash inflow during the year of €36.97 million and paid corporation taxes of €3.38 million, an increase from €2.7 million in the previous year.

The group had 774 staff during the year, up from 754, resulting in a rise in payroll costs to €33.7 million from €31.19 million a year earlier.