Over 1bn profits for luxury retail group PPR

François-Henri Pinault's French luxury goods and shops group PPR today reported a storming set of profit figures as it joined fellow upmarket companies to benefit from the increase in spending on exclusive brands by the world's wealthy.

The owner of Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci said underlying full year profit was 1.53 billion and declared a dividend of 3.5 a share, up 6.1% on the previous year.

PPR said it would improve sales and profits in 2011 but did not give specifics.

PPR's total sales reached 14.605 billion.