Dunelm’s deputy chair and biggest shareholder Will Adderley is set to reduce his stake in the company.

Adderley, the son of founders Bill and Jean, has announced plans to sell a 7.4% stake in Dunelm, amounting to roughly £210m.

He has appointed Barclays and Goldman Sachs to help sell his shares in the home furnishings retailer in a bid to achieve “greater portfolio diversification”.

The Adderley family still retain a 45% stake in the business, which has a market capitalisation of around £2.9bn.

Dunelm has seen sales rise amid the pandemic as more customers pay attention to their home-working environments, with 12 million active customers who shopped at least once last year.

In its latest result, Dunlem reported its pre-tax profits grew 34% to £112m for the 26 weeks to December 26.

The retailer said total sales jumped 23% to £719m, while online sales soared 111% in the period.

Shares in Dunelm also rose 16.9% in the past year due to the homewares boom.

Dunelm said in a statement: “Will Adderley remains fully committed to Dunelm in his role as deputy chairman as well as a very substantial shareholder in the company and his working relationship with the company is unchanged.”