Hot weather springs profit warning at DFS
DFS has announced a profit warning, blaming poor sales performance on decreased high street footfall during the hot weather, disruption to supply chains, and “lower than expected order intake”.
The furniture retailer said it expects EBITDA for the full financial year to be down on last year’s total of £82.4m, and said the figure would “reflect timing of the arrival of products from the Far East before the financial year end”.
Revenue at DFS fell by 4% on last year, in the 49 weeks leading up to 7 July.
DFS said it expects the furniture retail market “will remain challenging” over the next 12 months, and said it had seen “reduced consumer confidence”
The company’s recent acquisitions of Sofology, Sofa Workshop and Dwell are expected to help “mitigate the challenging sales environment”, with DFS expecting progress at the three companies.
Previous examples of adverse trading conditions were used by the company as reassurance that it can “capitalise” on the situation and improve market position.
The company is set to announce its full-year results on 4 October 2018.
