Revenues were bolstered by the opening of two more Panda supermarkets and two larger-format, Hyperpanda stores during the first six months of 2008.

Panda plans to open four hypermarkets and eight supermarkets in Saudi Arabia before the end of 2008.

The company has also forecast that about 52 million shoppers will visit its stores during 2008, up 19 per cent from the 43.6 million figure for 2007.