SHOPPERS helped high street fashion chain French Connection deliver a 14 per cent boost in sales in the past five weeks, the company said.

The group was upbeat about its prospects for this year and said its own "robust" formula had helped it boost custom.

Like-for-like sales growth of 11 per cent in its high street business in the year to January 31 provided French Connection with a 30 per cent lift in pre-tax profits before one-off items at £30.2m.

Chairman Stephen Marks said sales in the second half of the past financial year had been particularly strong.

He added: "The business has developed a robust formula that has enabled us to perform extremely well.

"The reaction to the new season product, our strong retail performance and growth in forward order books gives us confidence that we will have another exciting year of significant growth."