Dunelm profits up 9%

For the year to July 2, sales were up 9.3% to £538.5m, while like-for-likes were down 0.6%. In the previous year, like-for-likes were up 8%. Dunelm said its decline is “measurably better” than the decline of 1.9% for the home textiles market as a whole.

Chief executive Nick Wharton said Dunelm has performed well, despite the challenging backdrop and an exceptional period of commodity inflation.

He said: “Looking ahead, despite there being no obvious short term catalyst for significant growth in the homewares market, we are confident in the ability of our ‘Simply Value for Money’ proposition to deliver further growth for Dunelm.”

Dunelm will continue to develop the business through four priorities – developing its specialist proposition, developing the store portfolio, growing multichannel, and developing and exploiting its infrastructure.

The retailer will develop its ‘Simply Value for Money’ proposition and will work on offering more range.

In the year, Dunelm opened ten new superstores, and one since year end. It is committed to opening a further 13 more before Christmas.

It has also invested in store refits, with almost 50% of superstores either new of have benefitted from a refit in the past three years.

Dunelm has also expanded its central warehouse, and opened a new head office.

Wharton said: “Our focus on constantly improving our customer offer has allowed us to gain market share while expanding gross margins; at the same time our future growth prospects have been enhanced through strengthening the pipeline of new stores and the continuing development of our multi-channel footprint.

“The group’s financial position remains strong and the trading business strongly cash generative, readily financing the investment required for our envisaged growth.”