Warehouse Group, the biggest retailer on the NZX 50 Index, reported a 5 per cent increase in its shares at the New Zealand Stock Exchange - marking its first ever margin growth since last four years.

Its profit before unusual items surged to $85.2 million for the week ended August 2, as compared to $80.9 million in the corresponding period last year, beating the estimates of Forsyth Barr analyst Guy Hallwright. The Auckland-based company has also announced a special dividend of 10 per cent besides 5.5 per cent final dividend, indicating that it can maintain adequate growth, despite the recession-like conditions in the market.

Nick Dravitzki, manager of NZ Funds Management's Dividend Yield Portfolio, said: "(The firm) offers the very attractive prospect of being able to turn its intrinsic advantages of scale and market share into highly defensible, ongoing incremental earnings growth."

Warehouse shares gained 15 percent in the year and are trading at $4.25 NSE, amid hopes of fast recovery of global and domestic economy. It will announce sales update for the first quarter of 2010 on Nov. 1, as per Chairman Keith Smith.