Dunelm Preliminaries Show 4.2% Rise in Full-Year like-for-like Sales

Dunelm Group plc, the UK's leading homewares retailer, today (12th September) announces its preliminary results for the 52 weeks to 30 June 2018. 

*Includes net negative impact of Worldstores estimated at £8.4m for the 52-week period in FY18, and £10.7m for the period post-acquisition in FY17 (from 28 November 2016 to 1 July 2017).

Highlights

- Group revenue of £1,050.1m (FY17: £955.6m), an increase of +9.9%. LFL sales were +4.2%
- Growth in unique customer numbers both online (+18%), and in-store (+5%)¹

- Strong growth in LFL online, with home delivery sales up 37.9%

- Continued development of multichannel proposition with total Dunelm.com sales (including Reserve and Collect) now representing 13.5% of total Dunelm sales in FY18 (FY17:11.2%)

- Opening of ten new superstores in the year (including one relocation) adding 6.1% new space, and completion of six refits

- Clear plan to leverage the technology acquired with Worldstores; profitable Worldstores products transferred to Dunelm.com

¹ Unique customer numbers reflects internal analysis based on unique payment card transactions within the financial period

Nick Wilkinson, Chief Executive Officer, commented: 

"Following healthy sales growth over the past year, we are now taking steps to simplify the business under the core Dunelm brand, with one web platform and an integrated supply chain. This will allow us to respond more quickly to the changing consumer environment and drive future profitable growth. 

"Dunelm's purpose is to help everyone create a home they love. Our committed colleagues, our great products, and our increasingly integrated in-store and online offer, mean we are well placed for success as a leading multichannel specialist.

"The Worldstores acquisition has given us the key ingredients for a step change in our digital capabilities. We are preparing to launch Dunelm.com on our new proprietary technology to give us much greater agility in improving our customer proposition. This is a new and exciting chapter for Dunelm as we fully embrace digital retailing.

"The UK retail environment remains challenging, but against this difficult background we have traded in line with expectations during the current financial year to date."

Expert Insight & Analysis

Fiona Cincotta, a senior market analyst at www.cityindex.co.uk provided the following comment to Insight DIY.

"Hot weather doesn't exactly inspire a desire to splash out on beds, sofas and rugs, especially when your wages aren't going up by much and there's beer to be drunk. It's no wonder then that Dunelm has struggled recently -- so it's somewhat of a relief to see that it hasn't warned on profits again after issuing disappointing updates in May and July.

Profits and margins are line with management's revised guidance, online sales are doing well and the dividend has inched higher. Investors, though, could be disappointed that scant details have been provided about the company's current trading performance.

There was some good news on the wages front this week: they rose 2.6% in August, beating market expectations for a 2.4% improvement. But the real chance of a no-deal Brexit is still hanging over the high street like a dark cloud, making it tough for the likes of Dunelm to turn a corner fast".

Source : Dunelm Press Release

Image : Imran's Photography / Shutterstock.com 

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