Sofa giant DFS’s sales jumped 10.5% in its first half-year results since its IPO, as the retailer seeks to become a “world-class business”.
DFS said gross sales for the 26 weeks to January 31 soared from £390.1m to £431.2m year-on-year.
Adjusted EDITDA was up 16.5% to £27.6m for the period. That helped DFS post a record 12-month figure for adjusted EBITDA of £86.2m.
Its growing online presence meant ecommerce sales accounted for 10.9% of group revenue during the six months, compared to 9.7% during the same period last year.
DFS chiefs, who hailed the furniture giant’s IPO earlier this month as “an important step forward in our mission”, are now targeting international growth and say they are “confident” the retailer will deliver in line with market expectations in the second half of its financial year.
International vision
DFS chief executive Ian Filby said: “Our recent IPO strengthened our financial position and provides an excellent platform from which to fulfil our vision of taking DFS from being a great British business to a world-class business.
“Our continued momentum in the first half of the current financial year has built on the strong performance of the second half last year to deliver a record last 12 months’ result for the group.
“We see significant opportunity to further increase our penetration in the UK, strengthen our established market leadership in online upholstered furniture sales and further develop the DFS brand internationally.”
Ian Filby, DFS
“Although our performance will be measured against stronger comparatives in the second half, we are confident that DFS will deliver in line with market expectations for the current year and enjoys excellent prospects for long-term profitable growth as one of the UK’s best-known brands, a major British manufacturer and the country’s leading retailer of upholstered furniture.”
DFS opened six new stores in the first half to take its portfolio to 105 stores. But only four of those are outside the UK, with three in the Republic of Ireland and one in The Netherlands.
Filby added: “We see significant opportunity to further increase our penetration in the UK, strengthen our established market leadership in online upholstered furniture sales and further develop the DFS brand internationally.
“Overall market demand for upholstered furniture in the UK is predominantly driven by prevailing consumer confidence, the level of housing market activity and consumer credit availability.
“We continue to see favourable reported trends in key indicators in all three of these market drivers, despite some recent moderation in housing transaction volumes, and the upcoming general election having the potential to create some short term volatility.
“We therefore have confidence that our business will continue to benefit over the long term from a growing upholstery market.”
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