Baker and Burberry cheer the markets with big rises in sales and profits

The improving trends in retail seen in the first half across

both the company's UK and overseas markets continued

into the first seven weeks of the second half, said Ted Baker, which operates through three main channels – retail, wholesale and licensing.

"The group results for the full year will be dependent on trading during the key Christmas period and, at this stage, we remain cautious given the uncertain economic environment," the company said in a statement.

Ted Baker, which had its beginnings as a menswear brand in Glasgow in 1987, declared an interim dividend of 6.3p a share, up 20 per cent from last year's 5.25 pence a share.

For the 28 weeks ended August 14, pre-tax profit was 7.5m, compared with 6m last year. Revenue grew 15 per cent, to 88.1m.

Ted Baker has stores and concesssions in Leeds, Huddersfield, York and Sheffield.

Ted Baker shares, which have risen more than 40 per cent in value over the past one year, closed at 620p on Wednesday on the London Stock Exchange. It has been a good year so far for many luxury brands.

Separately, luxury fashion firm Mulberry Group Plc said it expected full-year sales and profit to significantly exceed market expectations on the back of a strong first half.

Burberry this week reported a 49 per cent rise in first-half profit.