Sweet tasting numbers for Patisserie

● Additional stores in Scotland and Ireland give results a further boost

Johnson added: “We have delivered another year of excellent financial results, achieving our targets in a challenging environment.

“We opened 20 new stores many of which are performing ahead of expectations, and the performance of our new bakeries in the Republic of Ireland is encouraging.”

The board has recommended a final dividend for the year of 2.4p per share, marking a 20 per cent increase on the year before.

The group told investors: “We continue to target new towns and cities for store openings and in the year opened in 12 new geographical locations. Many of these stores are performing ahead of expectations and reinforces the demand for the Patisserie Valerie brand.

“Due to the highly cash generative nature of the business, the rollout programme is funded entirely from operating cash flows. All of our new stores were profitable from the first week of trading and we expect all of these stores to achieve the payback target of 24 months.

“We continue to engage with our customers via social media. We have run a number of online competitions in the year, one of which resulted in the customer-designed Madame Valerie gateau.”