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LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - Debenhams, Britain'ssecond-largest department store group, said it was close tonaming a new boss as it beat forecasts with an 5.5 percent risein first-half profit, putting it on track to meet full-yearexpectations.
Last October Michael Sharp announced he planned to step downas chief executive at some point in 2016 after five years in thejob.
Debenhams said he formally submitted his resignation to theboard on Thursday.
He will continue as CEO until his successor is confirmed toensure a smooth handover.
Debenhams said it made an underlying pretax profit of 93.8million pounds ($132.5 million) in the six months to Feb. 27.
That was ahead of analysts' average forecast of 91 millionpounds and the 88.9 million it made a year earlier.
Sales rose 1.6 percent to 1.63 billion pounds, with sales atstores open over a year up 1.1 percent and its gross margin up20 basis points.
The better performance reflects less discounting, fewerpromotions, a decrease in the proportion of clothing in theoverall product mix, and online service improvements.
"Although there is plenty more to do, we are on track todeliver full-year results in line with market expectations,"said Sharp.
Analysts' average forecast for 2015-16 pretax profit is118.2 million pounds, according to Reuters data, up from 113.5million in 2014-15.
Shares in Debenhams on Wednesday closed at 77.4 pence,valuing the company's stock at 954.4 million pounds.
($1 = 0.7078 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Jason Neely)
