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Fortnum & Mason Website Drives Record Profits

Fortnum & Mason has reported record sales and profits for its last financial year - driven by its new website.

The exotic food and drink brand said it achieved sales of £88m in the 12 months to July, with profits rising to £5m.

It said its new website, launched during the period, helped online sales rise 22% while like-for-like sales enjoyed a 13% increase.

Fortnum & Mason, which first opened its flagship store in London's Piccadilly in 1707, has expanded since opening its second UK store at London's St Pancras station in 2013 - with retail space in Heathrow's Terminal 5 and in Dubai.

Its latest venture, a restaurant called 45 Jermyn St, was "trading ahead of budget", the company said.

Best known for its vast range of loose-leaf tea and picnic hampers, Fortnum's eponymous founders were William Fortnum and Hugh Mason.

The holder of a string of royal warrants during its history, the store supplied dried fruits and preserves to serving army officers during the Napoleonic Wars.

Today, the company said it was looking ahead to a "record" Christmas.

Its chairman, Kate Hobhouse, said of the results: "We are delighted with these figures, which are the reward for the programme of enhancements we have brought to the brand during the year.

"The past few years have seen us expand as a store, and I am particularly pleased that we have managed to do this without compromising the essence of Fortnum & Mason, and our focus on quality of service and authenticity of our products.

"I am confident that the upward trajectory of our business will continue."