ScS saw a dramatic turnaround in its bottom line after pent-up demand saw a record first-half performance.
The chain saw sales rise by 13.9% to £182.3m in the six months to 23 January as a pre-tax loss of £600,000 became a profit of £17.7m.
This was boosted by £5.3m from the business rates holiday and £1.3m of furlough payments, which the group will repay by the end of the summer.
It says in-store upholstery sales rose by 11.4% to £146.5m during the period; in-store flooring sales dropped by 3.6% to £18.1m and online sales jumped by 81.3% to £17.7m.
The chain’s order book at the end of January was £90.5m (including VAT), £16.8m higher than in 2020.
