Dunelm has upgraded its profit forecast after a strong performance over Christmas saw sales skyrocket.
In the 13 weeks ending December 31, 2022, Dunelm reported an 18% increase in sales to £478m, which was 48% up from pre-pandemic levels.
This was driven in part by strong demand for online, with 35% of total sales being made digitally.
The homewares retailer said its autumn and winter ranges proved popular with customers, adding that it “saw broad-based growth across our categories and our Christmas offer sold well”.
Dunelm also provided an update for the first half of FY23, with sales up 5% year on year to £835m, with 34% of all sales driven digitally.
Gross margin for the half was 51.1% – 170 basis points lower than the previous year. Dunelm said it has “a good level of visibility on input costs for the remainder of FY23” and margin guidance remained unchanged at circa 50%.
As a result, Dunelm said it expected full-year profit before tax to be ahead of expectations.
Chief executive Nick Wilkinson said: “We have delivered another strong performance and the relevance of Dunelm’s value offering has really come to the fore.
“Customers have enjoyed shopping our ‘Winter Warm’ ranges as they find innovative ways to manage rising heating costs. Our Christmas assortment also proved popular as customers prepared their homes for the festive period.
“It is a difficult time for many people in our communities, so we were delighted to significantly grow our ‘Delivering Joy’ campaign this year, resulting in over 60,000 Christmas gifts being donated by customers and colleagues to local causes.
“We are deeply conscious of the challenges everyone is facing and remain focused on making every pound count across our entire offer, so customers can feel confident in receiving outstanding value, whatever their budget or taste.”
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