Dunelm has attributed the costs related to the acquisition of Worldstores and declining store sales for its significant drop in profits in its last financial year.
For the full-year period ending July 1, the furniture retailer recorded a 28.3 per cent fall in pre-tax profit to £92.4 million.
While overall revenue for the fiscal year rose 8.5 per cent to £955.6 million, like-for-like sales slipped 0.5 per cent and comparable store sales fell 2.4 per cent.
Dunelm said a “challenging and subdued market environment” was one of the reasons for these figures, as well as the costs involved from from acquiring Worldstores recently and increased investment.
“Dunelm has made good strategic progress over the year, most notably with the acquisition of Worldstores, which moves us closer to our goal of being the biggest and best multichannel homewares retailer in the UK,” chairman Andy Harrison said.
“We expect the trading climate to remain challenging with the disposable income of UK consumers under pressure.”
Dunelm’s full-year report comes less than a month after chief executive John Browett stepped down with immediate effect for “personal reasons”.
Harrison highlighted that the retailer was still aiming to double sales to £2 billion, driven by its online offering, and that sales in the first two months of the current financial year have so far started “positively”.
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