Wine warehouse chain Majestic Wine announ-ced a 30 per cent rise in profit over the last year and said it planned to open another 50 stores.

Pre-tax profit for the year to April 1 rose to £5.9 million, which chief executive Tim How said had been on the back of good sales growth.

Like-for-like sales in its core UK business - stripping out the impact of store openings - rose almost 12 per cent in the year.

In the 11 weeks since the beginning of April, they increased 12.2 per cent.

Total turnover was up 21 per cent at £104.6 million.

Mr How said the group's 100-strong stores chain experienced particularly strong growth in wine sales from Italy and Spain and good growth from South Africa.

Sparkling wine and champagne also performed well.

The average spend per transaction was £102, with an average bottle of still wine selling for £5.35.

Majestic has a minimum purchase of 12 bottles.

There was no significant impact from people stocking up on drinks for the World Cup, as 80 per cent of sales are wine rather than beer.

Mr How was aiming to expand the chain and saw room for another 50 stores in about six years.

Over the past year, Majestic has opened five new stores.

Since the year end, it reached the 100-store mark as it launched an outlet in Dorchester.

Mr How said: "We see the potential for 150 stores over the next half dozen or so years."

Shareholders will be paid a total dividend of 8p, up from 6.6p last year.