In a trading update this morning, sofa retailer DFS warned investors that “significant declines” in footfall and orders will hit its full year results.
The retailer revealed that from April to June, dwindling footfall and customer orders attributed to the uncertain economic environment have led to a four per cent drop in sales, adding this was “weaker than expected.”
DFS had previously warned investors in June that operating profits would come at the lower end of market expectations in the range of £82 million to £87 million.
This followed a promising first half in which DFS posted a seven per cent rise in sales, boosting revenue for the full year ending July 29 to one per cent growth.
READ MORE: Profits in danger at DFS as uncertainty hits sales
The news comes just a week after DFS acquired rival brand Sofology in a £25 million deal, taking over its 37 stores in the UK.
“The second half has been weaker than we expected owing to significant declines in store footfall and customer orders across April, May and June,” DFS said in a stock market update.
“We believe this to be an industry-wide issue, resulting from the uncertain economic environment and unexpected General Election, exacerbated by warm weather in May and June.”
It added that although the market remained “very challenging” it would seek to achieve efficiency savings, despite growth becoming “harder to achieve in the short term”.
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