DFS Christmas sales down against 2021 but still ahead of pre-Pandemic levels
Furniture retailer DFS has revealed a period of solid sales over the Christmas period, albeit slightly lower than what it saw in 2021.
Although the retailer saw an improvement in sales of 16.3% in the second quarter of its 2023 financial year (FY), this rise was lower than in FY22, when the second quarter saw an increase of 18.8% against the first.
Gross sales were down 1.1% against FY22, however were 9.6% higher than FY19, that is, pre-Pandemic. Order intake was also higher than pre-COVID levels by 10.6%.
The retailer said its second quarter improvements were supported by further market share gains.
Tim Stacey, group chief executive, said: “The Group has traded well through the second quarter and the start of the important winter sale trading period. Whilst the macroeconomic environment remains challenging and hard to predict, we reiterate our full year profit guidance supported by the positive current trading momentum.
“As always, we continue to invest for the long term success of the business, to further strengthen our market leading position and with our established platforms, scale and expertise we believe we are well set up for growth over the medium term.”