TK Maxx has bolstered sales to nearly £3bn and opened a raft of new stores as the the budget chain defied the gloom on the high street.

Turnover at the discount retailer jumped 11pc to £2.9bn for the year to February 3, despite profits slipping 22pc.

Its pre-tax profits dropped to £87.1m for the period, down from £111.4m in 2017, as it ploughed investment into IT and staff recruitment.

TK Maxx, which also owns the budget homeware chain Homesense, continued its heady rise by opening 23 stores and a processing centre in Wakefield. The new stores included 14 TK Maxx shops and nine Homesense sites, bringing its total UK estate to 390.

Hannah Thomson, Globaldata’s senior retail analyst, said it was another “impressive performance” from the chain, which is benefiting from shoppers’ appetite for value.

She said: “While high street powerhouses Marks & Spencer and Arcadia have seen their clothing market shares drop by 1.9 percentage points each over the past five years, TK Maxx has grown its share from 2.6pc to 3.2pc.”