Smiggle is preparing to open an Oxford Street flagship and has reported a surge in first-half sales outside of its homeland.

The Australian kids’ stationery specialist, which is owned by Premier Investments, delivered record first-half global sales of A$170.7m (£106m) in the 26 weeks to January 27 – a 26.7% gain on last year’s total.

The performance was driven, it said, by 35 new store openings and “strong” like-for-like growth.

Over 60% of Smiggle’s sales during the half were made outside Australia, with its British business the main contributor.

Smiggle is on track to open between 30 and 40 new stores in its current financial year, including the opening of a “global flagship” store on London’s Oxford Street in May. 

Premier said the store will “provide key exposure to the brand internationally”.

It opened 23 new shops during its first half, including locations in Manchester’s Trafford Centre, West Quay Southampton, Oxford Westgate and Glasgow Buchanan Galleries.

Premier expects the UK to be Smiggle’s biggest market by the end of this financial year and predicts its British business alone will hit A$200m (£125m) in annual sales by 2019.

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