Matalan has posted an uptick in full-year profit before tax and total sales that boss Jason Hargreaves attributed to “sales, margin, and cost management performance”.

The fashion and homeware retailer posted a 3.8% total sales increase to £1.1bn for the 52 weeks to February 23.

Profit before tax increased to £30.1m, up from £20m for the same period last year.

The value retailer’s fourth-quarter total sales increased 4.5% to £267.3m during the 13 weeks to February 23, with an uptick in EBITDA to £14.8m compared with £14.6m for the same period last year.

Matalan chief executive Jason Hargreaves said: “A very strong underlying sales, margin, and cost management performance has enabled us to absorb a £39m currency headwind. This has delivered stability of EBITDA and an increase of profit before tax.

“Our strategy has added more choice to a strong core product offering while improving the shopping experience via refurbished store space and an enhanced online journey.

“We also continue to invest in infrastructure that helps us operate more efficiently.

“We exited the year with good momentum, delivering a strong final quarter of growth in sales and EBITDA as the currency headwind, while still adverse, began to reduce in scale.

“We expect market conditions to continue to be very challenging, and so remain cautious for the year ahead. However, we continue to be focused on the execution of a strategy that is clearly working.”