// Dunelm Half-year pre-tax profits up 24%, or 16.7% on an underlying basis
// Like-for-likes surged 6.9%
Dunelm has reported a sharp rise in half-year profits and like-for-likes.
For its half-year period ending December 29, like-for-likes spiked 6.9 per cent while pre-tax profits surged 24 per cent year-on-year to £70 million.
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However, on an underlying basis profit-before-tax grew 16.7 per cent year-on-year.
Operating profit for the half-year increased to £92.8 million, an increase of 21.5 per cent year-on-year or 17.3 per cent on an underlying basis.
Meanwhile, revenue grew 1.2 per cent year-on-year to £551.8 million and gross margin increased 170bps to 50.3 per cent.
Dunelm also managed to cut its net debt by 45.7 per cent year-on-year, and now stands at £72.9 million.
“The like-for-like revenue growth, both in stores and online, demonstrates the progress we are making in improving our multichannel proposition whilst maintaining the breadth and depth of our specialist customer offer in homewares,” chief executive Nick Wilkinson said.
He added: “We traded well through our key winter sale period and remain pleased with our performance to date.
“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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