United Carpets has shrugged off difficult trading conditions, increasing pre-tax profits by 46.8 per cent to £1.51 million in the year to March 31.

Like-for-like sales were up just over 9 per cent at the flooring specialist and revenue increased 8.3 per cent to£21.17 million.

United Carpets chief executive Paul Eyre said: “Despite tough conditions throughout the retail sector, United Carpets’ focus on quality products at affordable prices has delivered another good set of results.

“Although cautious, we remain optimistic about the future and believe that our strategy of steady expansion in store numbers, value for money, innovative product ranges, proactive sales strategies and improved quality of customer service will form the base for our ability to continue to deliver satisfactory growth in the coming year.”

Current trading has continued well at United Carpets, with like-for-like sales up 7.8 per cent in the 16 weeks to July 17.

United Carpets has 68 stores nationwide.