Strong Preliminary Results From Dunelm

• Strong performance and a clear pathway to further market share gains 

Dunelm Group plc ("Dunelm" or "the Group"), the UK's leading homewares retailer, today announces its preliminary results for the 52 weeks to 29 June 2024.

Highlights 

• Sales of £1.71bn (FY23: £1.64bn), up 4.1% on FY23 despite the softer market
  
  
• Customers responded well to our relevance, value and choice with sales growth driven by volumes (+6.2%)
  
  
• Further 60bps market share gain in combined homewares and furniture markets, now at 7.7%4
  
  
• Increase in active customers of 5.1%5, with growth across all age, income and geographic cohorts 
  
  
• Growth delivered across both stores and online, with digital sales now comprising 37% of total sales (FY23: 36%) 
  
  
• Six new stores opened (including one relocation) in line with our plans, giving us confidence to extend store rollout plan across different sizes and formats 
  
  
• Further progress in our Good and Circular approach to sustainability6, with improvements in Scope 1 carbon intensity reduction, expansion of our community initiatives such as ‘Delivering Joy’ and greater diversity amongst our leaders 

Financial highlights

• Strong gross margin of 51.8% (FY23: 50.1%), benefiting from net freight tailwinds and operational grip
  
  
• Profit before tax (“PBT”) growth ahead of sales, up 6.6% to £205m (FY23: £193m)
  
  
• Diluted earnings per share of 74.4p (FY23: 75.0p), with increased PBT offset by 520bps higher effective tax rate, given changes to the statutory rate
  
  
• £132m free cash flow (FY23: £160m)2, year-on-year impacted by higher tax rate, working capital outflow and increased capex
  
  
• Final ordinary dividend of 27.5p per share (FY23: 27.0p) taking the full year ordinary dividend to 43.5p per share (FY23: 42.0p), an increase of 3.6%
  
  
• £158m total dividends paid to shareholders during the year, including special dividend of 35p per share declared with the interim results and paid in April 

Outlook

• We continue to see a challenging consumer environment and the timing of a sector recovery remains uncertain
  
  
• Sales growth in FY25 expected to be driven by volume and further market share gains
  
  
• Strong plans underpin confidence in FY25 progress with ongoing investment in both growth and productivity drivers, whilst maintaining operational grip
  
  
• Evolved focus areas framing our strategic plans: elevating our product offer; connecting to more customers; and harnessing our operational capabilities
  
  
• Confident in our plans to reach next milestone of 10% market share in the medium term 
  
  
• Well-placed to unlock our full potential as The Home of Homes

Nick Wilkinson, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “This strong set of results is testament to the hard work of our adaptable and committed colleagues. In a period when consumers faced inflationary pressures and competing demands for their disposable income, we have continued to raise the bar on the relevance and value we offer at Dunelm. The continued delivery of volumedriven sales growth and further share gains in this softer market underlines this, and the strength and resilience of our business model.

“We have made good progress with our growth plans, including the expansion of our store estate, building a faster and better digital experience for customers, and advancing our tech and data capabilities. As we evolve our strategic thinking in this changing environment, we are now even clearer on the areas which will help us to unlock our full potential as The Home of Homes.

“Whilst we are gradually seeing improvements to economic indicators, we are yet to see a meaningful change in consumer spending habits in our markets. Against this backdrop, and compared to a strong first quarter last year, we have made a solid start to FY25. Our plans give us a clear pathway to reaching our next milestone of 10% market share in the medium term, and we remain very confident in our ability to deliver long-term sustainable growth as a result.” 

Source : Dunelm plc

Image : Dunelm store Milton Keynes - PaulMaguire / iStock / 1137820857

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