Dunelm posts drop in profit
Homewares retailer Dunelm has posted a 6.7% fall in underlying pre-tax profit to £109 million after being hit by integration costs and trading losses at Worldstores.
In the year to 30 June, group revenue rose by 9.9% to £1.05 billion while like-for-like sales grew by 4.2%. The retailer said it experienced strong like-for-like growth online with home delivery sales up 37.9%. Dunelm’s online sales now represent 13.5% of total sales compared to 11.2% in the previous year.
Commenting on the year’s performance, Nick Wilkinson, Dunelm chief executive, said: ““The UK retail environment remains challenging, but against this difficult background we have traded in line with expectations during the current financial year to date.”
During the year Dunelm ceased trading its Worldstores websites as separate entities. The retailer said the main benefit from the acquisition of Worldstores, which it acquired out of administration in 2016, was the access it gave to technology and digital development capabilities as Dunelm looks to grow its online business.
Wilkinson said: “The Worldstores acquisition has given us the key ingredients for a step change in our digital capabilities. We are preparing to launch Dunelm.com on our new proprietary technology to give us much greater agility in improving our customer proposition. This is a new and exciting chapter for Dunelm as we fully embrace digital retailing.”
Dunelm opened ten new superstores and completed six refits in the year.
