DFS sales and profit hit by supply chain issues
DFS has reported a year-on-year fall in half year sales and profit after it was impacted by industry-wide Covid disruption to its supply chain.
In the 26 weeks to 26 December, pre-tax profit declined to £21.6 million from £72.1 million in the corresponding period in the prior year. Meanwhile sales fell by 2% to £561.1 million, but were up 15% compared to pre-pandemic levels in the same period in 2019. Profit was also up on before the pandemic with a rise of 35.8%.
Tim Stacey, DFS group chief executive, said: “We delivered a strong performance in the first half of the year, with market share gains and strong revenue growth on the pre-pandemic comparators. This was in spite of significant logistics and supply chain challenges and once again I would like to thank all of our colleagues across the Group for their hard work and resilience in achieving this result.
DFS said trading in the second half has started well as it works to mitigate the impact of inflationary pressures on profits. The retailer said expectations for total profits across FY22 and FY23 remain unchanged
Stacey added: “Looking forward, whilst the macro-economic environment remains uncertain, we believe that our scale, brand strength and integrated retail strategy will continue to drive market share gains ahead of the competition. We will continue to invest in our digital platforms, our showrooms, our delivery networks and our UK manufacturing capacity, as well as expansion into other home categories which we believe will continue to drive long term growth and profitability.“
