Retailer's performance up on last year
Soft furnishings retailer Dunelm's sales rose 12.5 per cent to£354.7 million, with like-for-likes up 6.1 per cent, in the 52 weeks to June 30. However, in light of the recent interest rate rises, it remains cautious about the future.

Like-for-like sales growth during the latter weeks of the financial year was particularly strong, up 4.7 per cent in the third quarter and 10.1 per cent in the fourth. Dunelm said this reflected soft comparatives because of hot weather and the football World Cup last year. It expects underlying operating profit to be at the top end of expectations.

Dunelm chief executive Will Adderley said: 'We still have significant opportunity to grow through opening more stores. However, we also have to be realistic about the state of consumer demand. We expect that growth in existing stores will be harder to come by over the next few months.'

Seymour Pierce analyst Richard Ratner said: 'A good end to the year. For the year we raise our estimate from£38.4 million to£39.7 million, after treating£1.3 million of dual running costs as non-exceptional. For the new year, we up our estimate from£44.6 million to£45.5 million.'

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