LONDON, England - SuperGroup, the company behind fashion brand Superdry, posted a 22 percent rise in annual profit on Thursday and said the reception for its new ranges, in particular in womenswear, underlined its confidence.

The British company, which competes with brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Jack Wills in casual clothing like hooded sweatshirts, posted adjusted pretax profit of 52.2 million pounds, just beating average market expectations.

Chief Executive Julian Dunkerton said he was pleased by the performance of its 2013 ranges and the early reaction to its 2014 products and remained confident in the prospects for the group.

As previously flagged, revenue for the year to April 28 rose 14.9 percent to 360.4 million pounds, with like-for-like retail growth - at stores open at least a year - of 5.7 percent.

Analysts were expecting the group to report underlying pretax profit of 51.2 million pounds, according to a Thomson Reuters poll of 10 brokers.