DFS has laid out plans to top £1bn in sales after reporting record full-year profits despite the challenging furniture market.
Founder and chairman Lord Kirkham told Retail Week that DFS has “loads” of growth to gun for after “the best year we’ve ever had”.
For the year to July, DFS’s EBITDA soared 42.1% to £86.7m, before an £11.3m bonus paid to Kirkham.
Like-for-likes and total sales both dipped 2.9% to £577.8m. The 78-store sofa specialist opened no shops in the period, but will open its first store for three years in Inverness in the next few weeks, and Kirkham said he has identified potential for at least 30 more shops.
Since the end of the financial year sales have been up double digits. Kirkham - who admitted he has started to think about succession planning - vowed not to leave “until I do £1bn”, adding: “If DFS can’t do a £1bn turnover I’d be staggered.”
He said DFS would float “if it suits us” but “we don’t close our minds to anything”. He said he had enjoyed running DFS as a public company when it was quoted previously.
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