Clarks, the Somerset-based shoe retailer, has reported profits exceeding £100m for the first time, reports the BBC.

A report released on Monday revealed that the retailer, based in Street, saw pre-tax profits rise by 28% following a 9% sales increase.

The report showed a boost in overseas sales helped offset poor UK sales.

The company saw a 19% rise in sales in the US, as well as selling nearly a fifth more pairs of shoes in China in 2010 compared to the previous year.

Despite the report’s successful findings Peter Davies, chairman at Clarks shoes, is remaining cautious.

He said: “In many of our markets, the consumer is facing significant challenges as governments struggle to tackle their budget deficits with tax increases and cuts in public expenditure.”

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We chatted to AviationJobSearch.com’s Account Manager Lisa Parnham about her role and what it’s like to work in Sales.

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Alliance Boots, the high street chemist, reported a rise in profits after a strong performance by its wholesale pharmaceuticals business helped it weather the slowdown in consumer spending. This report from the Telegraph.

Pre-tax profit rose to £637m in the year to the end of March, up from £460m the previous year. Revenue increased 15.1pc to £20.2bn.

However like-for-like sales in the UK health and beauty division were up just 0.5pc, compared to a 3pc increase on that basis last year.

“Looking to the year ahead, we are planning for consumer demand to be subdued and expect governments to continue to seek ways to contain growth in healthcare expenditure,” said Stefano Pessina, executive chairman of Alliance Boots.

The pharmaceuticals wholesale division by contrast, saw revenue rise 23.6pc to £13.9bn. Trading profit added 36.2pc to £320m.

Boots was taken private in 2007 by Mr Pessina and private equity firm KKR, at the height of the debt-fuelled takeover boom.

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Losses at Royal Bank of Scotland widened in the first three months of the year as the state-owned bank was hit by higher charges against holdings of its own debt, reports the Telegraph.

RBS made a first quarter pre-tax loss of £116m versus a loss in the same period last year of just £5m, largely as a result of having to take a £480m charge on its debt.

The increase in fair value debt charges wiped out a year-on-year improvement in impairments, which fell to just below £2bn from £2.7bn in the first quarter of 2010.

RBS said its “core bank”, which comprises the businesses that will be left once a multi-year disposal programme is complete, had made an operating profit in the quarter of £2.1bn, up 25pc on the final three months of last year.

The bank also confirmed that it was on track to reduce “non core” assets to below £100bn by the end of the year, having sold £13bn of assets in the first three months.

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