CARPETRIGHT is creating up to 300 jobs in an expansion drive which will see it open 30 new stores across the UK.

The group said the move would bring store numbers up to 370, and staff up to 3,300.

It plans to open the stores - nine of which have been opened since the beginning of last month - over the next six months.

A spokeswoman for the company said it was still uncertain if any of the new stores would be in the North-East.

She added: "It is still early days in this expansion plan and we really can't say where the new stores will be. We will probably have a clearer idea in the New Year."

The company already operates nine stores in the North-East, including Darlington, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool.

Lord Harris, chairman and chief executive, said the expansion would not stop there, and the group planned to open 20 new stores a year for the next two to three years.

Carpetright announced the plans as it said pre-tax profits for the six months to October 27 rose 17.2 per cent to £22.3m, on sales up 13 per cent at £173.3m.

Lord Harris said the firm had broadened its range to attract slightly higher spending customers, as well as keeping its core customer base.

"Carpetright has never been in the top end of the market, but we have broadened our range," he said, adding the firm did slightly better in a downturn. "From my 40-plus years of experience, when there is a slowdown, people spend more on their homes, rather than on things such as holidays."