Dunelm Group has announced its interim results for the 26 weeks ended 31 December 2022.
The homewares retailer saw sales of £835m in the first half of FY23, an increase of 5% year on year, and 43% higher than H1 FY20 – pre-pandemic.
Profit before tax for the period was £117.4m, 16.6% down year-on-year. Gross margin was 51.1%, thanks to what Dunelm described as tight commercial discipline and operational grip.
Digital sales made up 34% of total sales for the period, a slight increase of 1% compared to the previous year. Around 10,000 new SKUs were launched on Dunelm.com over the period.
During the first half, Dunelm opened three new stores, including one relocation. The retailer also tripled its Delivering Joy campaign, with over 60,000 Christmas gifts donated to local causes.
Looking ahead, Dunelm predicts that while its customers have been resilient to date, the consumer outlook remains unpredictable. Expectations for FY23 PBT remain unchanged.
Nick Wilkinson, ceo, commented: “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. 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.”
