DFS revenues jump 17.3% in half-year results
The furniture retailer saw a sales boom in its half year retails as consumers spent money on their living rooms during lockdown
DFS Furniture has announced its revenues increased by 17.3% to £572.6m in the 26 weeks to 29 December 2020, due to a rise in demand for living room furniture during lockdown.
The retailer reported a strong trading performance over the period, which included a series of tiered lockdowns across the country, with online revenues jumping 66% year-on-year.
Due to strong revenue growth, underlying pre-tax profits increased from £60m to £77m.
Tim Stacey, the group’s CEO, said: “This strong first half profit and cash flow performance is a true reflection of the supreme efforts put in by our teams right across the Group since the start of the pandemic. I am hugely grateful to every colleague for their constant focus on the safety, health and wellbeing of all their colleagues and also our customers.
“Our business has proven to be resilient throughout the period despite showroom closures and a significant amount of external disruption in our supply chains. The investments we’ve made in our digital channels have generated exceptional revenue growth.”
He added: “Consequently our order bank remains well above normal levels and, subject to showrooms reopening by 12 April 2020, our central planning scenario is for an expected full year profit before tax outcome of approximately £105m, with further benefits to be realised in next year’s financial results.
“We’re committed to our strategy to lead sofa retailing in the digital age with our proven integrated retail model. We expect to see a good level of activity in the home market as Covid-19 restrictions ease and, having accelerated the execution of our strategy and grown our market share, we are well set for future growth.”
