DFS posts jump in pre-tax profit
Furniture retailer DFS more than doubled its pre-tax profit to £14.1 million in the 22 weeks to 30 December.
Meanwhile, group revenue climbed by 29.1% to £422.3 million although the increase was 9.9% when adjusting to include the acquisition of Sofology on a pro-forma basis.
The company said all of its brands achieved like-for-like revenue growth in the period which meant that like-for-likes were up 6.6% overall. Online revenue climbed by 22.6%.
DFS also said that trade was boosted by customers deferring purchases from the final quarter of the previous financial year and, to a lesser extent, from port related issues which delayed delivery of goods into the current year.
Tim Stacey, DFS chief executive, said: “We are pleased with the performance for the first five months of the financial year across the group, with all four of our brands achieving like-for-like revenue growth.
“The benefits of our investments in our online channels, delivery networks and the development of our brands help mitigate the impact of a market which we expect to remain particularly challenging in 2019 given the current political and economic uncertainty.
“Notwithstanding a softer start to 2019, and assuming no weakening of this environment, our profit expectations for the financial year remain unchanged.”
During the period DFS invested in operational technologies such as AI-enabled delivery scheduling.
Interested in learning more about how AI can help your retail business? Then attend the TRB AI in Retail Conference on 16 October. TRB readers working in retail qualify for a 50% discount on the £250 ticket price when using the discount code RETAILER50 when booking.
