Dunelm Group has announced its preliminary results for the 52 weeks to 2nd July 2016, reporting another strong year, and maintaining its record of growing sales and profit every year since the IPO in 2006.
Dunelm reports in-store like-for-like growth of 1%, and 23.2% growth in home delivery sales, which now accounts for 7% of total revenue.
There were six new openings in the year (including two relocations), increasing the retailer's footprint to 152 stores, with nine new stores contractually committed.
Dunelm opened a new warehouse opened in Stoke, doubling capacity and providing cost reduction opportunities, and reduced stockholding by £16.5m (12.4%) through improved retail disciplines.
John Browett, chief executive, comments: "The business has performed well over the year. Shoppers tell us that they genuinely appreciate the unrivalled depth and value of the Dunelm homewares offer. This has meant we have further cemented our leading position through market share gains, driving sales and profits growth, and increasing returns to shareholders, including a 16.7% increase in total ordinary dividends and a special distribution of 31.5p per share.
"My first year as chief executive has been extremely busy and we're working hard on initiatives across the business. Not least, we are investing in our stores to make them much easier to shop, whilst making sure our vast range of product maintains the value for money proposition which lies at the very heart of the Dunelm offer.
"We remain particularly focused on extending the Dunelm offer to more customers and have opened six new superstores in the year. This will be ramped up in the current year with nine planned openings, three of which are in the London area where we are excited by the clear opportunity for growth.
"We continue to outperform the homewares market, and despite potential challenges to the economy over the coming months and the dampening effect on footfall of recent hot weather, we believe that Dunelm's competitive position can come into its own, and are confident of continuing to deliver our growth ambitions."
