Furniture specialist DFS has reiterated its full-year profit guidance and hailed a strong start to winter trading, having spent much of last financial year struggling with low customer demand.
In a trading update for the 26 weeks to December 25, 2022, DFS reported a 4.8% drop in orders from customers year on year but said that in the second quarter of the period, orders jumped 18.8% on the previous year.
Group gross sales for the period slipped 1.1%, though they were up 9.6% on a three-year, pre-pandemic comparison.
DFS said consumer demand was currently strong and reiterated its profit guidance of £36m for the full year. However, it narrowed the full range to between £30m and £40m.
The retailer said: “This assumes the improved momentum we have seen in order intake continues through the second half, alongside the delivery of planned margin improvements and normalisation of the order bank, which remains elevated at the end of the first half due to the weighting of order intake. ” It added that it expected profits to be weighted to the second half of the year.
Chief executive Tim Stacey said: “The group has traded well through the second quarter and the start of the important winter sale trading period. Whilst the macroeconomic environment remains challenging and hard to predict, we reiterate our full-year profit guidance supported by the positive current trading momentum.
“As always, we continue to invest for the long-term success of the business, to further strengthen our market-leading position and with our established platforms, scale and expertise, we believe we are well set up for growth over the medium term.”
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