The credit crunch does not yet appear to have hit the pockets of the super-wealthy if the tills of luxury retailer Harrods are a guide, after the company reported taking in a record £690.2m last year.

The credit crunch does not yet appear to have hit the pockets of the super-wealthy if the tills of luxury retailer Harrods are a guide, after the company reported taking in a record £690.2m last year.

With an ornate store in London's upmarket Knightsbridge and concessions in the capital's Heathrow and Gatwick airports the company saw sales, including VAT, rise 13.4% in the 12 months to February 2, according to accounts released by Companies House yesterday.

Turnover for Harrods Holdings, which began life in 1834 as a wholesale grocer run by Charles Henry Harrod, inched up 1.1% from £436m to £440.8m over the year.

This allowed the company to record a pre-tax profit of £55.7m, up 60% on the year before, although after stripping out exceptional items the company reported a slight dip in profit from £45.8m to £44.9m.

Mohammed al Fayed, who owns the 65,000-acre Balnagown estate in Easter Ross, bought Harrods in 1985 for £615m. He and his family ultimately control Harrods via Bermuda company Mafco Holdings.

The company's highest-paid director took home £2.4m compared to £1.8m the year before. It also paid a dividend of £30m to the companies that own it.

During 2008 it is overhauling its menswear floors and homeware areas and re- furbishing the Knightsbridge store's Edwardian terracotta facade.