Electrical retailing giant Empire EC Plc is on target to double its turnover from £100 million to £200 million.

Madan Showan, chairman and founder of the firm, says to cope with the increase in business the firm will be taking on an extra 150 staff.

Mr Showan said: "We are well on target to achieve our goal of a £200 million turnover by the next financial year.

"This increase in trading will lead to the creation of an extra 150 jobs for the firm.

"We are committed to taking this firm to the top and make it a national name.

"To help us achieve this we are launching a TV campaign this September."

The firm, which sells cut-price electrical goods direct to customers, has enjoyed huge success and won the national E-Trading category of the E-Commerce Awards 2002 last week.

Over the last year it has grown turnover from £60 million to the £100 million mark.

Empire, which currently employs 250 people, created an extra 100 jobs last year when it opened its 200,000 square foot £5 million Canal Road warehouse site.

The storage and office complex is used by the firm as its central warehouse and logistics centre.

The firm, which has grown rapidly since it was established 19 years ago, also owns the Empire Electrical Megastore on Ingleby Road.

Mr Showan, who came to Bradford with his family in the 1960s, opened his first shop in Bradford in 1982 - selling CB radios.

A year later he went into partnership with Jaswant Singh and the chain of discount electrical retail outlets - known as Empire Electro Centres Ltd - were born.

The national award the firm picked up last week was for its on-line selling division Empiredirect.

The firm sells electrical goods at up to 30 per cent less than high street stores on its website www.empiredirect.co.uk

The firm's decision to trade over the internet has been a huge success, and it is now listed as one of the world's top 20 on-line retailers alongside names such as Amazon and Tesco.

Amarjit Singh, Empiredirect's sales director, said: "The future of retailing has to be online, but price, quality, choice and customer service must not be compromised. We have shown how it can be done. By trading online rather than through shops, we are able to keep our overheads in check.

"That means we can invest more on delivering good customer service, which is sometimes hard to find in the high street."