Department store group Debenhams is to create 4,000 jobs over the next four years by opening 11 stores.

The company, which has 91 outlets in the UK, said it plans to move into areas where it is not currently represented.

The group also said like-for-like sales in the last ten weeks were up 6.6 per cent on the previous year, driven by strong clothing sales.

It reported better figures for sales over the internet and from homes, with the group planning to double distribution of its Debenhams Direct home shopping catalogue to more than 300,000 this autumn.

Internet sales are expected to exceed £5 million in the first full year of trading.

The new stores will be in East Kilbride, Carlisle, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, Milton Keynes, Uxbridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Basingstoke, Birmingham and York.

Finance director Matthew Roberts said the stores, each of which will be around 100,000 sq ft, marked a major expansion for the group.

He said: "This is virgin territory for us. It will be taking us into areas where we have never been before."

Overall sales in the 20 weeks to July 15 were up 3.9 per cent, with like-for-like sales up 3.3 per cent.

Neil McShane, retail analyst at stockbrokers Brewer Dolphin, said the increase in sales was good news, particularly as the group had increased its gross margin by 0.1 per cent.

He also predicted the expansion might be achieved by acquiring some stores from retail rivals, such as House of Fraser, which owns Dickens & Jones, DH Evans and Army & Navy stores.

He said: "There is a veiled implication that they may be cherry picking from House of Fraser, it is not beyond the realms of possibility."