13th Feb 2019 07:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - Dunelm Group PLC on Wednesday said profit in the first half of its financial year jumped 24% on the back of a strong increase in like-for-like sales.
For the six months to December 29, the homewares retailer reported a pretax profit of GBP70.0 million, up from GBP56.3 million in the comparative period a year ago.
Revenue, meanwhile, rose 1.2% to GBP551.8 million from GBP545.4 million. On a like-for-like basis, revenue was up 6.9% year-on-year to GBP506.7 million from GBP473.9 million.
Store like-for-like sales were up 3.8% to GBP444.2 million while online surged 36% to GBP62.5 million.
Dunelm upped its interim payout by 7.1%, proposing an interim dividend of 7.5 pence per share from 7.0p paid a year ago.
Looking ahead, Chief Executive Nick Wilkinson said: "We traded well through our key Winter Sale period and remain pleased with our performance to date.
He added: "As previously highlighted, we are cautious about the outlook for the remainder of the financial year due to the continuing political uncertainty in the UK. We are confident in delivering market expectations for the full year assuming no material change in the macro-economic environment."
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