The past few years have proved very fruitful for many independently run discounters, with discount chains TJ Morris and B&M Retail posting the second and third-highest profit margins respectively of the UK's biggest 50 independent retailers. With a profit margin of 9.4%, and pre-tax profit up 51% to £30.2m, TJ Morris has posted the most impressive growth in recent years. The Merseyside-based chain, which operates 138 stores across northern England and the Midlands under the Home Bargains fascia, recorded a sales rise of 18% to £322m in its most recent accounts and is exploring new areas for expansion. The company plans to launch an own-label ambient food range to initially include items such as tinned fruit and vegetables, fish and meat that will sit alongside branded food lines such as pasta, rice, sauces, soups, cereals, sweets and snacks. The products will be sourced from its suppliers on the Continent and in Asia. TJ Morris is not the only discounter with ambitious expansion plans. B&M Retail intends to open 15 stores by the end of the year, as does discount retail chain 99p Stores, which has 56 stores nationwide and believes its expansion plans of 15 store openings a year will help double its turnover by 2010 to more than £200m. Frozen Value, meanwhile, has earmarked six stores to open this year. While many discounters credit the rise in popularity and size of retailers such as Aldi, Netto, Lidl and Primark to UK consumers' new-found love of bargain hunting, not all areas of the discount market are in growth. Frozen food discounters in particular have struggled to compete with the regular deep discounting of the multiples. Sales at Farmfoods, the second-largest independent retail, are stagnant and profit fell 61% to £2.2m in the year to December 2006, while Heron Frozen Foods reported a 2% rise in turnover but a 16% drop in pre-tax profit for the same period.