Pre-tax profits rose at high street opticians to £429.7m in the year to February while sales rose 7% to £4.3bn

Specsavers has paid £12m to its parent company controlled by its founders Doug and Dame Mary Perkins after the high street optician’s profits increased by more than a quarter.

The group operates nearly 3,000 optometry, audiology and ophthalmology businesses globally in at least eight countries, including more than 1,200 in the UK, through hundreds of independent partners.