Jan 14 - British designer brand Ted Baker said it would meet forecasts for year profit even though UK trade was affected by the adverse weather in the lead up to Christmas.

The firm, which has operations in the UK, United States, continental Europe, the Middle East and Asia, said on Friday retail sales increased 7.6 percent in the period Nov. 14 to Jan. 8.

Ted Baker shirt

It said gross margins were in line with expectations with no significant promotional activity prior to Christmas day, adding that sales since Christmas have been "particularly strong" across the group.

Prior to Friday's update analysts were forecasting a consensus pretax profit of about 24 million pounds ($37.80 million) for the year to Jan. 29 2011, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, versus 20.3 million pounds in the previous year.

Reporting by James Davey, editing by Matt Scuffham