Cake Box Holdings PLC (LON:CBOX) continues to gobble up higher sales despite slowing its rollout of new stores.

The baker, which specialises in egg-free fresh-cream cakes, said like-for-like sales in its existing franchises grew by 6.9%, and expects overall sales for the period to rise 6% to around £8.8mln against last year’s £8.3mln.

The sweet treats chain’s growth accelerated in the first half, with like-for-like sales already rising 6% faster than last year.

AIM-listed Cake Box took its total roster of stores to 122 in the half-year, adding nine new franchise stores in places such as Dartford, Derby, and Slough, compared to 15 openings in the same period last year.

Cake Box already shook off the retail gloom in June when it announced that revenues rose a third last year and Sukh Chamdal, chief executive and co-founder, was understandably pleased the company had continued the momentum in the current year.

"With a strong pipeline of new stores to meet our opening targets and a number of other developments underway to improve the Cake Box proposition, we remain confident in our prospects for the full year and beyond," he said.

Chamdal noted that although new store launches numbered “slightly lower” than last year, three more stores have already fitted out and will be open for trading in the second half of the year once final legal processes are complete.