Dreams reports fifth consecutive year of sales and profit growth
Bed retailer Dreams has increased its annual pre-tax profit by 11.7% to £32.7 million to mark its fifth consecutive year of sales and profit growth.
In the year to 24 December, sales were up 2.9% to £309 million as like-for-like sales edged up of 1.9%.
Dreams opened 17 new stores and refurbished 13 in the period. This means it had a total of 198 stores in the UK at the end of the year. It also launched a new ecommerce platform to help improve the customer experience on mobiles. New features include a mattress finder, divan bed builder, mobile-friendly finance and streamlined checkout.
Dreams chief executive Mike Logue said 2018 was a challenging year for the UK retail market.
He added: “We have remained focused on providing an excellent range of products at the right price point which, coupled with our healthy balance sheet, means that we have had the flexibility to adapt to market conditions.”
Looking at more recent trading, Dreams said it has made a strong start to the new financial year as it continues to invest in digital and refurbish more stores.
Logue added: ”The sector continues to face difficult market conditions, which have been well publicised, but our continued growth and investment means we are in a solid position at the start of 2019.”