Dunelm has hailed its performance in the furniture market, particularly upholstery, as it set out plans to return more than £100m to shareholders.
‘We continue to see broad-based growth across our categories and were particularly pleased to report strong growth in categories where we have been developing our product mastery,’ says Karen Witts, Dunelm cfo.
‘We also saw strong growth in furniture, where our sofas and sofa beds category performed well, reflecting the introduction of new shapes and colours to our best-selling ranges. We now offer five-day lead times on most of our furniture, as well as interest free credit to qualifying customers shopping online.’
The group says it has growth its furniture market share by 10bhs points to 2.1% in the six months to 30 December. It saw its share of the homewares market rise by 60bhs points to 11.3%.
In interim dividend of 16p a share, worth £32.3m, is to be paid to shareholders along with a special dividend of 35p (2023’s was 40p a share), worth £70.7m.
Sales for the period rose by 4.5% to £872.5m with gross margin rising from 51.1% to 52.7%. Pre-tax profits rose 4.8% to £123m.
