Britain’s second largest retailer remains bullish as profit forecasts exceed expectations.

Debenhams announced yesterday that its yearly pre-tax profit would likely rise by 20m per cent. The increase comes on the back of designer range performance and online sales.

The company predicted that it would hit the £150 million profit mark, with the recent trends of store expansion and discounting helping to fuel coffers by £3 million over what analysts had previously forecast. However, at stores that had been open to the public for at least one year, overall sales were flat compared with the previous 12 months.

Despite the unsteady consumer environment, which has seen the public sector suffer widespread job cuts, material costs rise and austerity measures hinder spending, Debenhams has been able to produce the upbeat estimate which covers the year until 28 August. Deputy chief executive for Debenhams, Michael Sharp, said the store was well placed to cope with what has been a challenging storm. Mr Sharp said the impending VAT rise was an obvious concern for all retailers, but that his company’s commitment to offering the right products at right prices had served them well in times of financial hardship. Mr Sharp also acknowledged that online sales had seen a significant rise, with many customers trending towards the time and money saving alternative.

With 160 stores across Britain and Ireland, Debenhams is the UK’s second largest sales retailer behind John Lewis, and also features stores in Denmark and over 60 franchised outlets overseas.

Britain’s second largest retailer remains bullish as profit forecasts exceed expectations.

Debenhams announced yesterday that its yearly pre-tax profit would likely rise by 20m per cent. The increase comes on the back of designer range performance and online sales.

The company predicted that it would hit the £150 million profit mark, with the recent trends of store expansion and discounting helping to fuel coffers by £3 million over what analysts had previously forecast. However, at stores that had been open to the public for at least one year, overall sales were flat compared with the previous 12 months.

Despite the unsteady consumer environment, which has seen the public sector suffer widespread job cuts, material costs rise and austerity measures hinder spending, Debenhams has been able to produce the upbeat estimate which covers the year until 28 August. Deputy chief executive for Debenhams, Michael Sharp, said the store was well placed to cope with what has been a challenging storm. Mr Sharp said the impending VAT rise was an obvious concern for all retailers, but that his company’s commitment to offering the right products at right prices had served them well in times of financial hardship. Mr Sharp also acknowledged that online sales had seen a significant rise, with many customers trending towards the time and money saving alternative.

With 160 stores across Britain and Ireland, Debenhams is the UK’s second largest sales retailer behind John Lewis, and also features stores in Denmark and over 60 franchised outlets overseas.

The discount fashion chain store that became a success story on high street has had its bubble burst.

Primark, whose expansion drive has placed them on many British shopping lists, has reported slow summer sales as consumer confidence took a battering.

Shares in Associated British Foods (AB Foods), the firm’s parent group, fell 1.5 per cent as the news became known of marked slowdown in sales growth.

While full-year budgets and profit earnings for the retailer are still on track to beat forecasts, Primark warned that tough times lie ahead as increased living costs and the impending VAT changes would spell trouble times in 2011. The fashion industry is now bracing itself for the next round of sales updates from fellow high street staples Next and Debenhams, due out next week, with analysts anticipating that similar grim outlooks will be commonplace.

The Primark chain, which consists of 204 retail outlets, makes up one-third of the group’s profit at AB Foods. Its like-for-like sales slowed in the three months till mid-September by around 4 per cent, meaning the year now sits at an increase of 6 per cent following the 8 per cent first half performance.

John Bason, AB Foods finance director, said that the previous fourth quarter sales, made longer by an Indian summer in 2009, meant that the last quarter showed a decline of closer to ten per cent. Bason added that Primark would remain cautious in the way it handled the outlook and the UK consumer.

In a bid to make the most of the free hand luggage allowance on airlines, travellers have taken cunning steps.

A new study by Debenhams has found that rather than pay excess baggage charges when travelling by plane, savvy passengers have developed a habit of ‘wearing’ large amounts of their belongings.

The move has become popular since airlines have introduced cheaper ticket prices for those travelling with only hand luggage, with the leading fashion retailer reports that sales in the summer period of oversize coats with multiple pockets have skyrocketed by as much as 350 per cent. The five-pocket Mantaray jacket, with a hidden compartment in the sleeve, has risen by 200 per cent, while the John Rocha six-pocket parka has gone up by over 300 per cent.

Debenhams attributes to sales growth on the shop floor to travellers choosing to pack heavy items such as laptops, books, cameras and towels onto their person rather than pay for bags to be stowed in the airplane hold. This can save an individual up to £40 in some situations with budget carriers. Debenhams sales staff have even witnessed customers bring their travel items into the store to test the fit of jacket pockets, with the latest novel, netbook and even pants, socks and sarongs all stuffed inside parkas in the quest for travelling light. Though the trend may seem a smart way around charges, increased testing is likely before boarding, and excess baggage usually attracts a hefty surcharge, in some cases up to £20 per kilo.

Leading UK retailer Debenhams has revealed the most unlikely of fashion superstars.

Spearheading the new clothing line to hit the high streets is the famous British walker Alfred Wainwright.

Wainwright is more commonly known for his walking guides to the Lake District, along with a reputation for foul moods to suit the foul weather. He is renowned as a notoriously bad dresser, which in some part could explain the new wave of counter-chic. Over the past two years, his fame has increased markedly thanks to a host of radio and television programmes about his life.

The public exposure has cascaded down from the cliffs to the high street in that time, with demand for walking boots, rucksacks and all-weather, hiking-style clothing soaring, leading Debenhams Director for Menswear Buying, Paul Baldwin, to call the new trend ‘Wainwright Chic’. Baldwin claims that both women and men across Britain have taken to the rugged outdoors look, and that the hill climbing image usually reserved for the most extreme of weekends has now found a place in everyday wear. In the past, specialist clothes such as Wainwright’s defining look were the preserve of nature enthusiasts and train-spotters only, but Baldwin says they are now just as likely to appear on the streets of Chelsea and Kensignton as Scafell or Grisedale Pike.

The Wainwright look usually involves a woollen jumper, belted coat and aged flapped-ear cap. These are most often complemented by trousers that use braces rather than a belt for support and which are tucked in to thick woollen socks. The choice of footwear is traditionally unstylish but highly functional.