Dunelm sees “significant opportunity” as it eyes more smaller format stores
Dunelm has said it sees “significant opportunity” for the 2025 financial year, with the homewares retailer “increasingly confident” in its smaller format stores.
The retailer also said it is finding “quality sites” for new stores, but added that it will “need to maintain strong operational grip”, given financial pressures.
This comes as Dunelm releases a trading update for the final quarter of the 2024 financial year, a period during which it opened a new store in Brighton and relocated its Edinburgh branch.
This brought the total number of new openings for the retailer during the year to six, with the stores a mixture of superstores and smaller format stores. Dunelm said it is “encouraged” by the early performance of the new openings.
During the fourth quarter – which comprises the 13-week period ending 29 June – Dunelm reported that its total sales were up 5% year-on-year to £399m.
For the whole financial year, the retailer recorded sales of £1.7bn, a year-on-year increase of 4%. The retailer is expecting a pre-tax profit of £200m, slightly ahead of current market expectations.
Nick Wilkinson, Dunelm chief executive officer, said: “We delivered another strong performance in Q4, with continued volume-driven sales growth across both store and digital channels. Amidst ongoing consumer caution, our unrelenting focus on value and choice means the Dunelm proposition has continued to resonate with customers, and we saw both full-priced and discounted lines trade well during our summer sale period.
“Throughout the year, we grew sales and continued to exercise tight cost control in an environment of high inflation. Our strong gross margin performance means we now expect our FY24 profit before tax to be slightly ahead of expectations.”