Dunelm posts record FY results despite 'challenging' environment

In the year to 2 July, pre-tax profit jumped 32.4% to a record £209m, on total sales of £1.6bn, up 16.2% on the year. Dunelm said that while year-on-year growth benefitted from the lockdown-related store closures a year earlier, growth of 41.1% compared to FY19 shows "the pace at which the business has developed through the pandemic period".

The retailer said its active customer base grew 8.5% over the year.

It declared final dividend of 26p a share, up from 23p a year earlier, lifting the full-year dividend by 14.3% to 40p a share.

Chief executive Nick Wilkinson said: "We feel confident and well prepared to weather the current economic pressures - we emerged from an unprecedented global pandemic as a bigger, better business and we believe we have the tools in place to do that again. That said, the operating and economic environment is extremely challenging.

"In this environment, we have to make every pound count, both for ourselves through our tight operational grip and cost discipline, and for our customers, through our offer of outstanding value at all price points."

Dunelm said sales have remained "robust" in the first 10 weeks of the new financial year and that it’s on track to deliver FY23 results in line with analysts' expectations for pre-tax profit of £178m.