10th Oct 2019 07:59
(Alliance News) - Homewares retailer Dunelm Group PLC on Thursday said first quarter revenue rose year-on-year amid sharp growth in its online operations.
Revenue in the 13 weeks to September 28 rose 5.8% to GBP262.6 million from GBP248.2 million last year. Not including GBP4.0 million in sales from Worldstores.co.uk and Kiddicare.com, however, websites that closed in the first quarter last year, revenue grew by 7.5% from GBP244.2 million.
Dunelm also reported like-for-like sales growth of 6.4% year-on-year to GBP255.6 million from GBP240.2 million during the period.
Store sales rose by 6.2% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis to GBP219.9 million from GBP213.7 million. In online alone, like-for-like sales surged by 35% to GBP35.7 million from GBP26.5 million.
Dunelm said the beginning of the quarter was particularly strong, helped by gains in market share and a poorer comparative period, though weaker trading in September slightly offset this.
Chief Executive Nick Wilkinson said: "We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter, building on the strong growth delivered over the last year. Our customers continue to respond well to our specialist product and service offering and we are excited by the numerous opportunities ahead of us.
"The launch of our new digital platform will be an important milestone in this phase of Dunelm's development. Once fully live, we can really begin to enhance and extend our offering and customer experience. Despite the recent softness in the homewares market and the increased political uncertainty, we are confident we can continue to win market share and our expectations for the full year remain unchanged."
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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