JOHANNESBURG, Feb 29 (Reuters) - South African furniture andclothing group Steinhoff International , whichwants to buy Britain's Home Retail, on Monday reporteda 67 percent rise in half-year operating profit, boosted bygrowth in the discount market in Africa and Europe.
Frankfurt-listed Steinhoff, which makes its furniture mostlyin developing countries and sells it to budget-consciousconsumers in Europe, said its operating profit before capitalitems rose 67 percent to 802 million euros ($873 million) in thesix months to end-December.
"The strong development in the reporting period was mainlydue to the above-market growth in the discount market especiallyin Steinhoff's key regions Europe and Africa," the company said.
Steinhoff, which is battling with Britain's Sainsbury's to buy Home Retail, said it sees the positive growth inthe discount segment of the market continuing for the rest ofthe financial year.
The group, which bought clothing retailer Pepkor last yearin a $5.7 billion deal, increased its revenue by 47 percent to6.7 billion euros, but announced last week it could cut around4,000 jobs at its South African furniture retail unit JD Group. ($1 = 0.9189 euros) (Reporting by TJ Strydom; Editing by Keith Weir)