FASHION house Hugo Boss has upped its full-year profit forecast after business boomed at its womenswear division.

And chief executive Bruno Saelzer is forecasting that next year will be even better.

"In 2006, we expect sales to grow stronger than the market," he said.

A profit increase over the first nine months of the current year convinced Boss to increase its guidance for net income to £70.9 million for 2005.

However, with after-tax profit over the first three quarters of the year already at £77m, it implies the German clothing group expects to make a loss over the final three months of the year.

That is because most of Boss' income is made in the first and third quarters of the year, when it books pre-orders for the next round of fashion collections.

But the company did not give specific outbroken figures for the latest three-month period. Boss, which is controlled by Italy's Marzotto and whose trademark black suits have gained a worldwide reputation for sophistication and success - had previously forecast a profit of £67.5m.

The new guidance is also up on analysts' expectations for £68.7m and ahead of last year's annual profit haul of £59.5m.

Christian Schindler, an analyst at Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz, said: "Hugo Boss has managed to grow very strongly despite the difficult market environment."

In recent times, Boss has been trying to expand beyond its menswear ranges in an attempt to widen its clothing offering and spread its business risk across more areas as consumer spending waned.

That helped spark a sales boost for the company and led to a rise in turnover of 12 per cent to £718.3 billion, while at the pre-tax level profit gained 16 per cent to £112.2m.

Sales of the design house's female clothing line, Boss Woman, rose by 36 per cent to £50m in the first nine months.

Last month, upmarket national rival Escada, whose dresses frequently grace Hollywood's leading ladies, announced its core profit had soared by 38 per cent and sales had risen by 3.5 per cent during the third quarter, prompting it to raise its full-year sales outlook to around £101m.

Besides launching Boss Woman, the company also launched the Boss Orange and Boss Green men's labels, targeting the sports lifestyle clothing market, in which sporting goods makers including Puma and Adidas have made extensive inroads.

Separately, Boss said Joachim Reinhardt, finance director at shaving giant Gillette, will replace chief financial officer Joerg-Viggo Mueller from April 2006.

In addition, Lothar Reiff, board member in charge of creation and licences, will step down as Boss cuts the number of management board posts to four from five.

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