DFS reports ‘solid’ first half performance
Furniture retailer DFS has said it delivered a “solid” trading performance in the first half of its financial year with gross sales growth of 4%.
In the 26 weeks to 27 January gross sales for the group, excluding those from its recently acquired Sofology business, were 3.5% lower than the prior year, but 3.3% up when measured over two years. The company said its online channels, together with its developing Dwell business, achieved strong growth.
During the period DFS opened four new UK DFS showrooms and one DFS showroom in the Netherlands. It also converted existing leased space within DFS showrooms to accommodate five new Dwell stores and five new Sofa Workshop showrooms.
With the Sofology acquisition completing in November 2017, DFS also acquired eight showrooms and the brand and intellectual property of the collapsed Multiyork brand in the period. The company expects the stores, six of which will trade as Sofa Workshop, to open before Easter 2018.
Looking ahead, DFS said: “We recognise that the living room furniture retail market is likely to remain challenging in 2018, given current consumer confidence levels. However, with the benefits of strategic investments feeding through, our expectations for the full year are unchanged.
“We continue to expect modest growth in EBITDA in the 2018 financial year, excluding the impact of acquisitions, driven by the annualisation of product margin and operating cost efficiencies over the second half of the financial year.”
DFS will announce its interim results on 28 March.
