7th Jan 2019 07:30
LONDON (Alliance News) - Homewares retailer Dunelm Group PLC on Monday said it remains cautious on the outlook for its full financial year, despite reporting revenue growth in the first half.
Providing a trading update through to the end of the key Christmas trading period, the FTSE 250 retailer reported total revenue growth, for the 26 weeks to December 29, of 1.2% on the prior year, with like-for-like sales up 6.9%.
The 13 weeks making up the second quarter of Dunelm's financial year saw total sales up 2.0% with like-for-likes up 9.0%, which the company described as a "pleasing result" building on the positive trading experienced in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Dunelm stores' revenue was up 3.8%, while online grew 36% year-on-year.
The retailer now expects its interim pretax profit to be around GBP70.0 million, up 17% from GBP60.0 million a year ago.
Despite the growth experienced in the first half, Dunelm said it "remains cautious" about its outlook for the full-year, given the uncertainty facing UK consumers and businesses.
"If the homewares market continues to grow at a similar rate to that experienced in the first half, we expect to deliver full-year pretax profit modestly ahead of the top of the range of current analysts' forecasts," the firm added.
According to the company, analysts currently expect Dunelm's pretax profit for the year ending June 30 to be between GBP108.0 million and GBP112.0 million. A year ago the company delivered a GBP93.1 million pretax profit.
Chief Executive Officer Nick Wilkinson said: "We are pleased with our overall performance in the first half, and are helping more customers than ever to create a home they love. By focusing back on our core business, under one Dunelm brand, we are improving our trading and financial performance."
During the half, the company closed the Worldstores and Kiddicare websites to re-centre its customer experience onto one brand.
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