Lawson Inc., the nation's second-largest convenience store operator, reported on Monday record consolidated pretax profits of 22.45 billion yen, up 3.3 percent from a year earlier, for the first half of its business year through Aug. 31.

Sales campaigns that helped draw more customers into the stores contributed to the record profits, company officials said.

Lawson also set a record for consolidated operating profits with 23.25 billion yen for the March-August period, up 0.2 percent from the previous year. Its consolidated net profits meanwhile jumped 32.7 percent in the same period to 11.46 billion yen.