Dunelm Q4 sales soar following Woldstores acquisition

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jul 10, 2017

British homewares retailer has announced an 8.5% increase in sales for the financial year ended 1 July, as an exceptionally good performance in the fourth quarter was able to offset weakness in the third quarter.

The company, which has 152 superstores across the UK, said in a trading update on Monday that revenue for the fourth quarter rose strongly by almost 18% to £240.0m, boosted by the Worldstores acquisition.

Dunelm bought UK online shopping group Worldstores and its two subsidiaries, Kiddicare and Achica out of administration for £8.5m in November last year. The move helped the retailer enhance its position in the booming homewares market and offer a much broader range of products with an easier shopping experience.

The Worldstores addition was significant, as total revenue for the fourth quarter, excluding Worldstores, was up by just 6.7%. On a like-for-like basis, total sales increased by 3.8%

"The Worldstores acquisition will provide a massive leap forward to our online and store offer that we think our customers will love. The integration is going well and we are confident in the benefits it will generate. With around 20% of our sales now generated online, we believe that we have arrived as a significant e-commerce player in homewares,” said chief executive John Browett.

"We've seen a good quarter of trade with positive like-for-like sales growth and a very strong online performance. Encouragingly, we continue to take market share.”

The company’s underlying performance was achieved despite sales falling by 7% over the Easter period, and by 2.2% on a like-for-like basis in the third quarter.

The company expects pre-exceptional profit before tax for the full year to be in the range of £109.0m - £111.0m.