The Breville Group has credited the rise of the air fryer for its record first-half profits.

The Australian success story posted record net profits of $78.7 million for the six months ending December 31, up 1 per cent from last year — with sales also rising 1 per cent to $888 million for the half.

Breville has forecast full-year EBIT will jump to between $165 million and $172 million, a rise of 5-10 per cent, due to the increased demand for cooking products, and a “more benign inflationary environment” in the current half.

“With ovens back in supply we enjoyed the ‘air fryer tailwind’, making cooking our fastest growing product category in the half,” Breville CEO Jim Clayton said.

The company hiked prices this year for its premium category by around 4 per cent, which saw revenues in that category jump by 5 per cent, to $770.4 million.

The company suffered a 21 per cent jump in employee benefit expenses, due to salary adjustments, incentives to retain existing staff and the hiring of new employees. This accounted for $101 million in additional costs over the six months.

Breville will pay an interim dividend of 15c per share.