Dunelm profits fall 17% despite sales increase

Home retailer Dunelm has announced a 17% fall in its pre tax profits to £117m, down from £141m, for the 26 weeks ended 31 December 2022.

The firm revealed the fall in profit comes despite a 5% increase in sales to £835m compared with £766m from the first half of FY22.

As a result, the company stated that its consumer outlook remained uncertain as the cost of living crisis continued and its full-year guidance also remains unchanged.

Other highlights in the period included three new store openings, including one relocation, and the investment of £17m in digitalisation, capability and capacity to support future growth.

Dunelm announced an interim dividend of 15p per share, up from 14p in the same period last year.

CEO Nick Wilkinson said: “We are all learning to live in a new, complex and rapidly evolving economic reality. Recognising this, our focus has been on ensuring that we continue to offer outstanding value to our savvy customers through a proposition which is committed to quality, at the right price, across an expanding range of relevant products.

“We believe that this is why we have continued to grow our sales, customer numbers and market share. In this environment, agility, creativity and innovation are more important than ever and we have endeavoured to make every pound count, both for ourselves and for our customers, helping to mitigate the impact of inflation.”

He added: “While we do this, it is important that we also maintain our long-term thinking, invest for sustainable growth and continue to ensure we are in a position to seize the significant opportunities ahead of us.

“Much like during the pandemic, our customers, colleagues and the communities we operate in will remember how businesses behaved when times were tough, and we are confident that our approach of offering outstanding value and choice for all will enable us to – once again – emerge from this challenging period stronger than ever.”