The two Welsh factories are secure

The sites which employ 300 people had been widely tipped for closure.

But sales in the company's home furnishing business had improved sharply.

The chief executive of the fashion and furnishings group, Kwan Cheong Ng, said:

"We have been pleased with the performance of both facilities and the growth in customers demand gives us confidence for the future."

The company said it already has an established and profitable mail order business which would handle the back office and delivery side of online sales.

Loss-making

The upbeat signs from Laura Ashley come after a tormented few years at the company whose floral styles, which took the fashion and furnishing world by storm in the 1970s, fell out of fashion in the 1990s.

The loss-making group was bailed out in 1998 by Malayan United Industries,which took a 40% stake in the company.

It has since closed five factories in Wales and one in Holland, pulling out of clothing manufacture altogether.

The group sold the loss-making US business and issued new shares to raise investment funds.

The first signs of a turnaround came in April when the company announced sales had jumped and that financial figures showed a dramatic reduction in losses from �28.5 million, down to �4.1 million.

Analysts now expect the group to return to the black this year, with profits forecast to be between �6 million and �6.5 million.