The company has also reported a comparable store sales growth of 10.2 per cent for the period in Australia, while gross margins remained stable despite competitor discounting and the strong performance of low margin categories.

In addition, the company's cost of doing business was down 39 basis points to 13.2 per cent. EBIT margin increased 10 basis points to 7.2 per cent, while cashflow from Operations was strong at $168.4 million for the half year.

The company has raised the dividend declaring a fully franked dividend of 33.0 cents per share, an increase of 120 per cent (HY09 was at 15 cents).

Sales in December were solid across all categories, with comparable store sales of 6.5 per cent.

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