Dunelm grows in declining market

13th Jul 2009 07:36

Specialist homewares retailer Dunelm grew market share in the first half of 2009 as like-for-like sales improved, despite a declining market.Like-for-like sales rose 5% in the 26 weeks to 27 June 2009 in comparison with a year earlier. Total sales rose 10.7% to £215.2m in the half-year period.For the 52 weeks to 27 June the picture is less rosy, with like-for-like sales down 0.5%, while total sales grew 6.3% (pro-forma) to £417m from £423.7m in the 53 weeks to 4 July.Over the year gross margin increased by 1.2 percentage points.The company opened six out-of-town superstores over the last year and completed six major refits.Two leasehold stores were converted to freeholds, as the company took advantage of depressed market prices. The combined consideration for these two transactions was £7.3m.Net cash as at 4 July was £21.2m, while the daily average net cash held was £12.2m over the year, and £24.4m over the second half of the financial year.“The homewares market has declined in the last twelve months, but having said that consumer spending does not yet appear to have been squeezed to the extent that many commentators were anticipating. Although spending may hold up for a little while yet, the prospect of increasing tax burdens on consumers and the possibility of a return to higher mortgage costs, mean that we remain cautious in our outlook moving into calendar year 2010,” the company’s chief executive, Will Adderley, said.