Value fashion and homewares retailer Matalan has opened its first overseas store in Amman, Jordan.

The single-floor, 28,000 sq ft store is located on the third floor of the Al Baraka mall as an anchor tenant. Its design replicates that first unveiled at Matalan’s store in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, in October last year.

The retailer, which reported an  8.2 per cent like-for-like sales increase in the 14 weeks to June 6, has signed a franchise agreement to open 15 stores in the Middle East in the next five years.

Matalan has 203 stores in the UK and reported last month that EBITDA rose 6.3 per cent to £145.1m in the year to February 28, defying the gloom in its sector.