Douglas Holding's first quarter profit rose 4% as the operator of perfume, cosmetics, book, clothes and jewellery stores saw sales increase in the vital Christmas shopping period. Douglas said on Wednesday that profit from ordinary activities was E112.9m, below the average forecast of E117.1m.

Douglas reiterated that it expected sales to grow between 6 and 8% during the 2005/2006 financial year and profit from ordinary activities to rise to between E125m and E127m. The company, which sells Hugo Boss colognes and Clinique cosmetics, said first-quarter sales rose 9.4% to E905m. Sales at stores open more than a year rose 1.6%. Its perfume and cosmetics stores recorded 12% growth in sales in the first quarter, while sales at its Thalia book division rose nearly 10%. Douglas said it planned to open 50 new perfume stores across Europe in the current fiscal year.

NamNews - Wednesday 8th February 2006

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