Furniture chain DFS Furniture said it has largely weathered a downturn in demand caused by hot conditions in the autumn.
The Doncaster-based company said that reducing its costs meant it was likely manage to ensure that a hit to the company’s top line would not travel down to profits. Revenue is now expected to be around £1.02-1.04bn in the financial year ending next summer, £40m less than the company had expected, but underlying profit guidance was unchanged at £30-35m before tax and brand amortisation.
Chief executive Tim Stacey said: “The group has performed well in tough trading conditions. Despite the weaker than expected market, good operational performance and progress on gross margins and lowering our cost base have enabled us to deliver a profit for the first half that is slightly ahead of the prior year and we remain on track to deliver our full-year profit target.
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“Looking forward, the group has good growth prospects and is well positioned to drive attractive returns for shareholders, capitalising on market recovery as well as growing our home offering and delivering our 8% profit before tax target.”
DFS said that the furniture market had been weaker than expected, with the amount of furniture sold down around 9% from a year earlier. Demand has since recovered, the business said, and the profit guidance is based on the assumption that the amount of furniture sold remains 5% lower in the second half of the financial year.
Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber
