Costcutter has posted a positive set of sales and retailer recruitment figures for the first six months of the year.

The group recorded a 4% year-on-year increase in sales between January and July 2012 and has maintained its growth in retailer recruitment, adding another 112 new accounts.

“Despite continuing to operate in a tough economy Costcutter has continued its year-on-year growth,” chief executive Nick Ivel, said. “These latest performance figures underline the excellent work being done by our retailers and everyone within the business.”

The launch of Costcutter’s new three fascia strategy was also proving successful, with store openings “well ahead of target”, Costcutter said.

“We opened the first kwiksave store in May 2012 and in September we will open our sixth store,” Bibby Line Group managing director Sir Michael Bibby added. “The target was to have 12 stores by the end of the year, however the new format store is proving so popular we are on course to open 20 stores by Christmas.”

Costcutter is also investing heavily in its retailer IT systems having recently launched a re-written version of the business’s in-house CPoS system, and a new Order Capture System for the group to come in April 2013.