Somerfield registered a pre-tax profit of £26.4 million for the year to April 28, 2007, against a loss of £118.1m the preceding year, according to accounts filed at Companies House.

The company, that has since been put up for sale for an estimated £2.5bn by its private equity owners, reduced its net debt to £946.8m from £1.3bn, and said the results were "satisfactory".

Like-for-like sales fell by 3.2 per cent, although they have risen since.

Deutsche Bank analysts said that the results suggest Somerfield is "in good health".

Stripping out exceptional items, it made a loss of £107.7m. Exceptional items included a £23m bad debt provision on the 2006 sale of Kwik Save, its subsidiary that went into administration.

It paid "interest and similar charges" of £159.4m against £55.1m last time. Included was a preference dividend of £46.7m (against £15.3m last time), which was rolled back into the company.

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