Super Stella slips into the black

Stella McCartney's fashion label has finally broken into the black after five years of losses.

The designer took home a salary of almost £1million last year and her eponymous company, which is half owned by Gucci, made a £395,000 operating profit, compared with a £1.2million loss in 2005.

However, the firm is still a long way from repaying the investment ploughed into "project Stella" by the Italian luxury goods giant. So far Gucci has spent more than £15 million on getting Stella McCartney Ltd off the ground.

The profits come after the designer showed her widely acclaimed latest collection at Paris Fashion Week last week.

The company said it had been boosted by a 50 per cent rise in sales at its flagship store in Bruton Street, Mayfair.

Best sellers includes a black wool cashmere coat, a cashmere silk hooded sweater and a washed silk organdie dress.

Other success include two fragrance lines launched through Gucci subsidiary YSL BeautÈ. The second, Stella In Two, only hit the market last summer. The designer also signed a licensing deal with sportswear firm adidas in 2005 to sell "adidas by Stella McCartney" clothes, including a tennis range and ski wear, from Spring last year.

The company said "these collections have reportedly become adidas's most successful ever product launch".

The figures do not include profits from stores in Los Angeles and New York or from "wholesale activities".

A flagship store in Japan is planned for next year with up to 10 outlets in Asia to follow over the next 18 months.

McCartney had been under pressure to start making money.

Robert Polet, president of the Gucci Group, set a deadline of this year for its smaller brands to make money. He said the profit was "a signal that the company strategy is sound".