The garden centre chain registered a 12% increase in sales to £166m for the 12 months to February 24 and is now considering a return to the stock market.

Dobbies chair Andrew Bracey told The Times the stock market is the “natural place” for the business and it will look to float “in a year or so”.

The specialist retailer’s underlying operating profit jumped 35% and like-for-like sales grew 5% during the period.