Ideal confident of further growth

Ideal Shopping Direct chairman Jim Hodkinson will today tell shareholders to expect more growth this year.

He is expected to tell shareholders at the retailer's AGM today that sales in the first quarter of this year are strong.

However, Hodkinson will tell shareholders that the retailer is likely to suffer from the general downturn in consumer confidence. In a prepared statement he said: 'Year-on-year comparisions so far continued to benefit from a first-time contribution from Freeview and in common with other areas in the retail market, we can expect things to get tougher as the year progresses.'

The TV shopping retailer benefited from strong growth last year, with a turnover increase of 42 per cent and grew profit before tax from£123,000 the previous year to£4.1 million. The retailer launched on the digital Freeview platform almost a year ago.