British department store chain Debenhams broke the £2 billion sales barrier last week and reported profits had more than doubled. Herewith the chain took market share from other department stores like Marks and Spencer, reports the FT.

Privately-held Debenhams - the chain went private in 2003 - does not have any plans to return to the stock market yet. Chief executive Rob Templeman: "There are no plans and nothing on the starting blocks at all. It doesn't mean we are ruling it out for next year." He said that the chain was "in good shape", despite a slack consumer market. "We will take more than our share as we go into Christmas," he said.

Although Templeman refused to comment on current trading, he said that underlying sales for the year ended 3 September had risen 2.8 percent. He also added, however, that underlying sales had decreased to 0.6 percent in August, indicating that even Debenhams is susceptible to the tough trading conditions on the high street.

Despite a difficult retail environment, Debenhams has managed to gain market share. In 2005 it reached 18.6 percent, compared with 16.4 percent last year, thereby surpassing John Lewis with 18.1 percent.

Pre-tax profits leapt 123 percent to £238.6 million on sales up 10 percent to £2.09 billion. The company generated cash of £248 million for the year. Net debt more than doubled to £1.87 billion following the £1.9 billion refinancing it received last year. The chain has managed to repay £1.3 billion - twice the amount of the original investment - to its private equity investors Texas Pacific, CVC Capital and Merrill Lynch Private Equity.

The company has spent £105 million on store refurbishments and new stores and plans on spending about £115 million this year. There are plans to roll out 130 of its "Desire at Debenhams" stores, of which it has opened two in the past year. Meanwhile, the company believes it can double the number of department stores in the UK to 240.