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U.K. homeware brand Dunelm Group’s shares reported a 16% rise in annual sales as customers from all demographics sought out the retailer’s home equipment and furnishings despite surging inflation.
In its preliminary results for the year ending July 2, Dunelm’s
DNLM,
total yearly sales hit £1.5 billion ($1.73 billion), a 16% rise from the same period in 2021 and the group reported net profit increases of almost a third to £168 million. Shares rose
Dunelm also said it has increased its market share of the homewares market by 140 basis points and had grown its customer base by 8.5% over the year — calculated by the number of customers who have transacted at least once in the last 12 months.
Despite consumer prices hitting a 40-year high of 10.1% annually in July, Dunelm maintains that its widening product offer caters to all budgets.
In its investor presentation on Wednesday, Dunelm said its increase in consumers had come from across all demographics. Geographically, they shopped from across the U.K, with 40% concentrated in London and the South. Financially, all income levels contributed to the rise; those earning under £20,000 and over £100,000 accounted for over 10% each of its customer base.
“In this environment, we have to make every pound count, both for ourselves through our tight operational grip and cost discipline, and for our customers, through our offer of outstanding value at all price points,” said Nick Wilkinson, Dunelm Group chief executive officer.
“We feel confident and well prepared to weather the current economic pressures – we emerged from an unprecedented global pandemic as a bigger, better business and we believe we have the tools in place to do that again. That said, the operating and economic environment is extremely challenging,” he added.
The group declared a final dividend of 26 pence, taking the full year ordinary dividend to 40p.
Group executives highlighted the company’s strength in e-commerce business activities from the opening of a new ecommerce and furniture fulfilment operation. That said, the proportion of digital sales dropped by 11 percentage points from 2021 to make up 35% of its total online sales in 2022.
