Worldstores acquisition helps lift Dunelm in Q4

Homewares retailer Dunelm saw total revenue in irs fourth quarter rise 17.7% to £240m, it reported in its year-end trading update on Friday, with total revenue excluding Worldstores improving 6.7% to £217.4m.

The FTSE 250 firm said total like-for-like growth in the three months to 1 July, combining like-for-like stores and home delivery, was 3.8%.

Home delivery was responsible for the bulk of that improvement, posting year-on-year growth of 32.1% in the quarter, while like-for-like stores were up 1.3%.

On an annual basis, like-for-like stores revenue declined 2.4% to £758.4m, while home delivery surged 23.5% to £76.5m, for total like-for-like revenue of £834.8m, down 0.5%.

Total group revenue for the year was up 8.5% at £955.6m, with total revenue excluding Worldstores 2.3% firmer at £901.1m.

“The Worldstores acquisition will provide a massive leap forward to our online and store offer that we think our customers will love,” said chief executive John Browett.

“The integration is going well and we are confident in the benefits it will generate.

“With around 20% of our sales now generated online, we believe that we have arrived as a significant e-commerce player in homewares.!

Browett said the company saw a “good quarter of trade” with positive like-for-like sales growth and a very strong online performance.

“Encouragingly, we continue to take market share.

“We continue to invest in the business for the longer term to improve our customer proposition and infrastructure and, despite an uncertain consumer environment, we go into the next financial year with some good momentum.”