RETAIL giant Great Universal Stores, owner of Argos, is to float part of its famous luxury goods brand Burberry, completing a three-year turnaround for the upmarket label.

Best known for its traditional check pattern, Burberry has been given a makeover by fashion guru Rose Marie Bravo who arrived from the US to take charge of the brand in 1997.

She was widely credited with changing Burberry from a dour British institution into a stylish, more relevant, brand after designing a new range that fashion model Kate Moss helped publicise in an advertising campaign this summer.

GUS revealed further proof of the turnaround in its interim results with Burberry's turnover rising 38 per cent to £185m in the half-year to September 30.

Chief executive John Peace said Burberry had seen ''an excellent first half'', adding the group had decided to plan a partial flotation as it felt the time would soon be right ''to secure the inherent value of the brand''.

Finance director David Tyler said it would be a ''reasonable estimate'' to suggest around 20 per cent of the brand will eventually be floated, but a final figure is unlikely to be revealed until full-year results in June.

The group also showed, however that overall, pre-tax profits for the first half slumped to £112.2m compared with £136.6m, with this year's figure hit by £26.1m of one-off costs.

Profits before amortisation of goodwill, exceptional items and taxation were up at £181m from £176m last time.

Part of the one-off exceptional hit was the £8.9m GUS spent on restructuring the newly-formed Argos Retail Group, which combines both the high-street catalogue chain and GUS's home-shopping operations.

Mr Peace said the growth momentum in the Argos business had been maintained, with like-for-like sales, which strip out income from new stores, up 11 per cent.

Total sales were up to £944m from £806m, with operating profit up 13 per cent to £35.7m.

''Argos continues to grow sales in its major categories, through a combination of wider choice, better value and greater convenience,'' said Mr Peace.

He added that the new Argos Additions clothing range - was now in half the chain's 465 stores