Australian fashion jewellery chain Lovisa is continuing with its global expansion after profits jumped 20 per cent for the full year.

Sales reached $596.5 million – up 33.1 per cent – with comparable store sales up by 6.3 per cent. Tax-paid profit rose 20.1 per cent to $68.2 million.

The company says a key driver for sales was its continued global expansion where 172 new stores were opened during the year taking the total to 801 stores across 39 countries.

The business has now expanded to 12 new markets including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico, Botswana, Namibia, Romania, Italy, Spain and Hungary. It has new franchise markets in Peru, Morocco, and Colombia.

The US is now the largest individual market for the business with 190 stores with 78 opened during the past year.

In the second half, the company also opened a new 5000sqm warehouse in Wroclaw, Poland to replace its third-party logistics service providers in the European region.

Victor Herrero, CEO of Lovisa, said the business is very pleased with the results as it was able to maintain its store rollout strategy throughout the year.

“The company has been able to continue to deliver strong profit growth while investing in the structures to support our global expansion in the face of more difficult trading conditions in the second half, which leaves us well placed as we move forward with store rollout in both exciting and new markets.”

For the first seven weeks of FY24, comparable store sales fell 5.8 per cent compared to the same period last year but total sales are up 13.1 per cent.

“We continue to focus on opportunities for expanding both our physical and digital store network, with structures in place to drive this growth in existing and new markets and expect store rollout to continue,” the company said.

• Further reading: Global expansion fuels hefty profit boost for Lovisa