By John Glenday

A cost-cutting drive overseen by the Home Retail Group, parent company of Argos and Homebase, has delivered dividends with a substantial 32 per cent jump in pre-tax profits to £93.8m, helped along by a one per cent rise in total sales to £5.71bn.

Drilling down into the figures the catalogue retailer saw sales rise by 0.6 per cent, with 46 per cent of its customers now ditching the rigmarole of its cumbersome laminated books to purchase directly on line.

Sales at its sister chain Homebase performed even better with like-for-like sales rising 2.3 per cent, although the DIY chain remains committed to Read full story ›

Source: The Drum