Virgin Cosmetics sales head skywards

Virgin Cosmetics delivered a 34 per cent sales fillip to investors in the past year.

The Victory Corporation-owned business, which makes the lion's share of sales through direct selling agents, generated an operating profit of£3.3 million in the year to March 31 2004. Virgin Cosmetics shops delivered like-for-like sales growth of 5 per cent. It is now using stores as recruiting grounds for agents.

Victory, which disposed of the unprofitable Capo clothing business last year, turned a pre-tax loss of£7.9 million into a profit of£3.3 million on sales of£64.3 million.

Seymour Pierce analyst Richard Ratner said: 'The business is built on a combination of the professionalism of its employees and consultants, the quality of the product and a top-class service proposition.'