Chico's posts bigger Q4 profit

(Reuters) - Women's clothing retailer Chico's FAS Inc (CHS.N) posted a bigger quarterly profit as improved demand for its clothes and accessories, coupled with discounts, saw more people shop at its stores during the holiday quarter.

Chico's, whose chains include namesake stores as well as the White House/Black Market chain, raised quarterly dividend 25 percent to 5 cents per share.

In the past few years, the company has sought to increase sales by improving its selection aimed at women over 45.

For the fourth quarter, Chico's, which is currently looking for a chief financial officer, earned $20.7 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with $17.5 million, or 10 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Sales rose 9 percent to $475 million.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 13 cents a share, on revenue of $473.2 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the company had closed at $12.06 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee; Editing by Joyjeet Das)