Luxury group Kering has hailed a "remarkable" year after rapid growth on the back of demand for Gucci in Asia and North America.
The French conglomerate, which has a stable of fashion brands including Alexander McQueen and Saint Laurent, saw organic revenue rise by 23.3 per cent in the final quarter to 3.7 billion euros (£3.24bn), beating analyst expectations.
Overall revenue for the year was up 29.4% to 13.7bn euros (£12bn).
More than half of this was accounted for by star brand Gucci, which topped 8bn euros of revenue last year.
Demand in the Asia-Pacific region powered growth, with sales up 45%.
North America was close behind with a 43.6% increase.
Gucci's overall growth in the final quarter slowed slightly to 33.4% after seven consecutive quarters of growth above 35%.
Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive of Kering, said: "Our healthy, balanced and profitable growth reflects skilful execution of our strategy, rigorous financial discipline, and a shared culture emphasising responsibility and commitment.
"Having worked throughout the year to strengthen the Group and its brands, we have the ambition and the means to sustain our profitable growth momentum."
Roadside assistance firm the AA has said it expects full-year trading earnings to be "not less than" £340 million thanks to a solid performance across its roadside and insurance divisions.
This comes despite paid roadside assistance personal memberships falling by around 2 per cent to 3.2 million over the year to January 31.
"The decline in paid personal memberships was as anticipated and was principally due to our previously announced decision to re-phase our summer marketing campaign as well as the impact of regulatory pressures and continued competitor activity," said the AA.
The group hopes to return to roadside membership growth by 2020-21.
The AA had previously guided for underlying trading earnings of £335m to £345m.
Perth-based Stagecoach will continue to run East Midlands Trains for at least another five months, after it secured a short-term extension from the Government.
The franchise, which was due to end in early March, will now run until at least August 18, with the option for the Department for Transport to extend it by up to 24 weeks.
The agreement includes a commitment to helping deliver the £1.5 billion Midland Main Line upgrade, which is expected to improve capacity and reduce journey times.
Improvements will also be made to stations and trains, while the roll-out of smart ticketing will begin in March 2019 as part of a wider national programme.
In a statement to the market, the company said: "Over the last 11 years, customers have benefited from millions of pounds of investment to improve services, whilst taxpayers have benefited from substantial premium payments to Government."
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