Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Dunelm achieved 11% growth in sales in its fourth quarter, the out-of-town homewares retailer revealed today.
In an interim management statement the company said that new space accounted for 9.1% of the growth in the 13 weeks to July 2 2011, with 1.9% coming from like-for-like sales. The latter figure reversed 2010’s equivalent like-for-like figure of -1.9%. Sales in the quarter were worth £123.8m.
The full year delivered sales of £538.5m, up 9.3%, but like-for-like sales dipped by 0.6%.
The company, which now has 103 superstores, said that over the full financial year, it expected gross margin to have increased by approximately 120 basis points.
Chief executive Nick Wharton commented: “In what has been a particularly challenging year, we are encouraged both by the trading performance and by the strategic development of the business.
“Our focus on constantly improving our customer offer has allowed us to gain market share while expanding gross margins; at the same time our future growth prospects have been enhanced through strengthening the pipeline of new stores and the continuing development of our multi-channel footprint.”
He added that profit for the year should be in line with market expectations.
