DFS half-year profits and sales boosted by strong furniture market

EBITDA in the 26 weeks to January 30 rose to £31m, the retailer said. Sales in the period climbed to £461.3m. 

Chief executive Ian Filby said: “I am pleased to report continued good sales growth through the first half of our financial year, reflecting the success of our growth initiatives and the current health of the furniture market environment.” 

The retailer said it expects to open one more store in the traditional “DFS store format” by July in line with its “long-established” policy of opening three to five store in the UK and Ireland each year.

It also revealed plans to extend its DFS small store format trial, following an initial launch at Westfield Stratford. Two more are planned, with the first opening in The Glades shopping centre in Bromley next month.

In the Netherlands, DFS said it is “encouraged” by its progress, having opened a second store in the country at Alexandrium retail park in Rotterdam last September. 

Turning back to the UK, Filby added: ”Given broadly stable general macro-economic trends in the UK, we have confidence that our strong competitive position and strategic initiatives mean that the group is well placed to sustain its record of sales growth, market share capture and cash generation over the year as a whole.”

Speaking to Retail Week, Filby said he is particularly pleased with the 50% increase year on year on sales of DFS’s exclusive brand collection. He revealed that DFS has now extended its agreement with exclusive brands French Connection, House Beautiful and Country Living, adding that these designs “clearly resonate” with customers.

DFS also reported continued strong growth in web sales today owing to the “quality of the site, the quality of the experience and the investment made over time”, Filby said.

“We continue to be an out-and-out market leader within the web sector, consistently getting over 40% of all the upholstery web traffic, which is astonishing. We’ll continue to invest in technology in order to take us even further away from our competitors in this sector.”