26th Mar 2015 08:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - DFS Furniture PLC on Thursday reported a broadly flat loss for the first half of its financial year, as higher staff and acquisition costs cancelled out a rise in revenue and gross sales in the half, and it said it expects to meet full year expectations despite tough comparatives.
The furniture retailer, which listed in London earlier this month, said its pretax loss for the 26 weeks to the end of January was GBP14.4 million, compared with a GBP14 million loss a year earlier, as administrative costs rose 7% as it added staff in head office to "drive growth initiatives" and reflecting the additional costs for the central functions of the Dwell and Sofa Workshop businesses it bought in the previous year.
DFS said its revenue in the half rose to GBP332.8 million, from GBP299.2 million a year earlier, with gross sales rising to GBP431.2 million from GBP390.1 million. Revenue was boosted by the acquisition of Sofa Workshop and Dwell, though the existing DFS business saw gross sales rise 9.1%, excluding the contributions from the acquisitions.
The company said its store opening plans are on track, with four UK stores and one Republic of Ireland store added in the half. All the new stores are trading well, DFS said. It also opened its first Continental European store in the half in the Netherlands.
"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," said Chief Executive Ian Filby.
Shares in DFS were trading flat at 260.00 pence just after the open on Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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