Dunelm drives up market share and profit

Dunelm has enjoyed the fastest-growing share within the homewares market and driven half-year profits up by 24%.
In the 26 weeks to December 29 2007 the company achieved profits of £27.6m and pushed sales up 10.6% to £197.4m. Like-for-like sales were up 4.9%.

The chain achieved double-digit growth in homewares market share and now has a 3.8% slice, ahead of the overall market’s 3.4%, and that is continuing to grow.

“In a sector which remains fragmented, our share of 3.8% puts us in joint fifth place,” commented chief executive Will Adderley, “excellent progress when compared with our share of under 2% as little as five years ago.”

Dunelm now has 88 stores and plans to increase that number to 150. It has recently added seven superstores to its tally and intends to open four more outlets in the current financial year. A store is due to open in Sittingbourne, Kent, soon.

Adderley said he expected trading in the second half of the year to be tougher, but added that he believed the company would be mainly unaffected by the economic slowdown because the average spend per customer visit was under £30.

Sales rose 11.2% in the eight weeks to February 23 while like-for-like sales growth of 0.9% out-performed the market as a whole, according to Adderley.

Meanwhile, Dunelm founder Bill Adderley has retired as non-executive director and becomes life president.