Coffee giant Starbucks has returned to winning ways after profits dipped last year, posting record turnover during its first quarter.

Starbucks, which last year upped its long-term store target to 40,000, saw turnover in the quarter ended 31 December 2006 soar 22% to $2.4b (£1.22b).

The coffee chain giant opened 728 new cafés during the period and said like-for-like sales, which strip out the effect of new openings, grew 6% during the period.

Net earnings increased 18% to $205m (£104m).

Starbucks also achieved record quarterly activations of its new cashless payment card, with $287m (£146m) credit put on the cards by consumers during the period.

Last November Starbucks announced a fall in profits during its fourth quarter year-on-year with a drop from $123.7m (£65.5m) to $117.3m (£62.1m), which it blamed on the introduction of new accounting measures.

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By Chris Druce

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