Dunelm new stores boost revenue and profit
Homewares retailer Dunelm has posted increased revenue of £300m as it opened ten new stores.
Pre-tax profit also rose by 7.8 per cent at the Syston-based company to £52.2m for the six months to 31 December 2011, up from £48.5m last year.
Continue investment in the infrastructure of the business, alongside the 8.8 per cent revenue growth and keeping costs disciplined led to the profit boost, Dunelm told the Stock Exchange.
"Dunelm has achieved robust trading results in a very demanding retail environment, and has continued to gain market share on a like-for-like basis," chief executive Nick Wharton said.
"We have also made significant progress on our longer-term development plan, not only delivering a very ambitious store opening programme over the last quarter, but also making significant improvements to our online offer, which have been well received by customers."
Dunelm has committed to a further eight store openings: four for this financial year, including one relocation, and four in the next, with a "strong pipeline" for launches.
Matt Davies has also been non-executive director at the business, with immediate effect.
He will chair the audit committee and will become a member of the remuneration and nominations committees.
Davies has been chief executive of Pets at Home since 2004 having joined the business as group finance director in 2001.
