Fashion retailer d2, which is 60 per cent owned by Tom Hunter's West Coast Capital, has doubled profits thanks to the success of its brands.
Pre-tax profits for the year to July 26 were£3.6 million, against£1.8 million for the same period a year ago. Sales, excluding concessions and VAT, rose to£75 million from£68.5 million last year.
Buying director Alan Kinney said growth was driven by d2's casualwear labels and the acquisition of the licence for the Soviet brand.
'We've delivered a policy of keeping buying very tight. We've been buying in season,' said Kinney. Sourcing clothes from Europe instead of the Far East speeded up lead times, he added.
The recently-opened d2 store at the Bullring has beaten sales targets, and more large stores are planned. The 91-strong retailer wants to have 100 stores by this time next year.
'The Bullring has proved that we can scale the stores in size and location, hence the new stores are likely to be a larger format with significantly more product in the bigger cities,' said Kinney.
Separately, d2 sees big business coming from its new shoe concession Qube, the wholly-owned West Coast Capital shoe business, which replaces Schuh concessions.
In the year to July, the Schuh concession contributed£7 million in revenues. Kinney expects Qube to contribute£10 million in the present financial year.
D2 will manage Qube, bringing in a separate team. About 10 standalone Qube stores will hit high streets and shopping centres next year, starting in Glasgow.
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