China-bound House of Fraser posts profits rise

LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - British department store House of Fraser, which was this month sold to the Shanghai-listed retail arm of China's Sanpower Group, reported an 8 percent rise in annual profit on Tuesday.

House of Fraser, which has 60 stores across the UK and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) , on Saturday (Shenzhen: 002291.SZ - news) confirmed it had sold an 89 percent stake to Nanjing Xinjiekou Department Store in a deal that values the business at over 480 million pounds including debt.

The group plans to open up to 50 stores across Asia, with the focus being on mainland China.

On Tuesday House of Fraser said adjusted core earnings for the year to Jan. 25 had risen 8.3 percent to 60.2 million pounds ($101 million), helped by a surge in online orders and demand for own-brand products. Sales at stores open over a year rose 3.6 percent, excluding VAT, to 1.2 billion pounds,

Net (Dusseldorf: NETK.DU - news) debt reduced by 25.8 million pounds to 131.4 million.

The Chinese buyer has said it expects the acquisition to close in four months, subject to customary closing conditions.

Earlier this month it emerged that Britain's Sports Direct (Frankfurt: A0MK5S - news) had bought the remaining 11 percent stake in House of Fraser, which had been considering a London stock market float. ($1 = 0.5976 British Pounds) (Reporting by Neil Maidment; editing by Sarah Young)