Original Factory Shop to add 1,000 jobs after profits rise 31 per cent

The Original Factory Shop plans to increase its workforce by nearly 50 per cent this year by opening 35 new stores and doubling the size of its warehouses.

The Burnley-based non-food convenience store chain has  posted sales of £132m in the year to March 28, up 35 per cent. Like for like sales rose 7 per cent. Ebitda was up 31 per cent to £14.7m, the fifth year on the trot of double-digit profit growth and a second year of plus-25 per cent ebitda growth.

The chain, which describes itself as a "low-price local department store", sells men's, women's and children's clothing, homewares, electricals and toiletries and trades in small towns with a population of less than 20,000.

It currently has 134 stores and employs 2,100 people, but has a target of 500 stores by 2020. It opened 30 new stores during the year to March, 22 of them in former Woolworths premises.

Angela Spindler, who took over from George Foster as chief executive in January last year, said: "We are delighted with our performance last year. We have a financially strong business focused on achieving strong organic growth by adopting an aggressive store opening plan, funded by our strong cash-generation.

"No other UK retailer fits our model of being a national major non-food convenience retailer operating in local markets. Customers voted with their feet last year, as we expanded not only our store network in the year but also our brand and product offering."

The Original Factory Shop began life in 1969 as a surplus out let for Peter Black's but was acquired by Duke Street Capital in 2007 in a £69m secondary buyout from Barclays Capital