Fashion chain Monsoon has voiced concern about the possible impact of the London terror attacks on business as it posted a 34 per cent rise in annual profits to £59.1 million.

The group, which also owns Accessorize, said it was concerned about the incidents and the "general prediction of the lack of consumer confidence on the high street".

But despite the "uncertain" outlook, Monsoon said it had made an encouraging start to its new financial year.

Founder and chairman Peter Simon said: "While this was a good result, and we have had an encouraging start to the new year, the outlook is uncertain.

"We recognise that we are facing many months of double-digit like-for-like sales increases, which made last year a success. We are also concerned about the impact of recent incidents and the general prediction of the lack of consumer confidence on the high street."

Like-for-like sales, stripping out the impact of store openings and closures, were 16 per cent higher in the seven weeks to July 16 - including the week after the July 7 attacks. This compared with an 11 per cent increase during the year to May 28.

Monsoon, which has 13 outlets across the Midlands, said strong summer ranges had contributed to an excellent start to the year.

The company revealed on Friday that Mr Simon was in talks about a possible bid to take the company private.

It said Mr Simon was at the early stage of discussions to buy the 24.6 per cent stake he and his family do not own.

Monsoon boosted its trading space by 30 per cent when it bought 47 former Etam sites in April.

This will increase the number of Monsoon and Accessorize outlets in the UK and Ireland to around 380 once the stores have been converted. During the year, total sales increased by 34 per cent to £363.7 million.

Pretax profits after exceptional items, such as costs linked to the Etam deal, rose 20 per cent to £53.1 million.

The group said the newlylaunched Monsoon Men brand, which it has rolled out into a number of Monsoon stores, was performing in line with expectations.

Monsoon also has 241 international stores in 29 countries including Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, Greece, Gibraltar, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. It is in the process of trying to buy five stores run as a franchise in France.

The group also decided to omit dividends this year as it continues to spend heavily on expansion and shop conversions.

The benefits from the purchase of 43 stores from Arcadia, which will add 30 per cent to Monsoon and Accessorize's net trading space, will not be realised until the second half of the year, said Monsoon.

The group decided not to pay shareholders a final dividend because of the cash needed to convert the former Etam stores.

Analyst Richard Ratner at stockbroker Seymour Pierce increased his estimate for the new financial year to £70 million from £68 million.

He described Monsoon's performance as "brilliant" in a difficult market.