Dunelm posts fall in full year profit
Dunelm has reported a decrease in full year pre-tax profit and said it expects its trading environment to remain challenging.
In the year to 1 July, profit fell to £92.4 million from £128.9 million in the previous year. Total sales grew by 8.5% to £955.6 million.
Meanwhile, like-for-like sales edged down 0.5% in the period although the retailer said sales in the first two months of the new financial year have started “positively”, with good like-for-like sales boosted by favourable weather comparatives.
Online sales in the year were up 23.5%.
Andy Harrison, Dunelm chairman, said: “Dunelm has made good strategic progress over the year, most notably with the acquisition of Worldstores, which moves us closer to our goal of being the biggest and best multichannel homewares retailer in the UK. Over the medium-term we are aiming to double our sales to £2 billion with 30%-40% from our increasingly important online channel.
“We expect the trading climate to remain challenging with the disposable income of UK consumers under pressure. Nevertheless, we have a full programme of management actions underway to further improve the Dunelm customer proposition, both online and in-store, increase our business efficiency and support our colleagues.”
The company expects to have opened a total of eight new stores by the end of the first half of the current financial year of which four are already open.
Dunelm’s chief executive John Browett stepped down in August and the company has commenced a search for his replacement.
