LK Bennett underlying earnings hike 37 percent

Duchess of Cambridge favoured brand LK Bennett has seen its sales rise by 15 per cent to 94.1 million pounds in 2012. Main drivers of this growth were international expansion and increasing online sales. In their Christmas trading update,

the group - that owns over 50 stores in the UK, said its website now generated three times more sales than its flagship London store.

Meanwhile, underlying annual profits rose by 15 per cent to 62.7 million pounds.

Earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) also went up, jumping 37 percent to 11 million pounds. Around half of LK Bennett’s sales came from shoes, with the rest coming from clothing, bags and accessories, the group said.

Chairman Robert Bensoussan showed his content with the firm performance saying: "These results show that despite difficult markets, LK Bennett has a strong positioning as the pre-eminent British accessible luxury brand."

Founded by Linda Bennett in 1990, it remains in the hands of two private equity firms, Phoenix and Sirius, since 2008. They acquired the firm for 100 million pounds.