(Alliance News) - DFS Furniture PLC on Tuesday reported its gross sales were 19% ahead of a year before during the first 24 weeks of its 2021 financial year.
The Doncaster-based furniture retailer also said its gross sales via its online channels were 76% ahead of 2019's figures.
Shares in DFS Furniture were up 8.1% at 227.00 pence in London on Tuesday.
The company said its performance "reflects the benefit of a shift in spending to home categories, and also market share gains that led to a particularly strong order intake in the first quarter of its 2020 financial year." The company also reported a "resilient" second quarter, despite extensive showroom closures in November due to the national lockdown restrictions.
As a result of this, DFS Furniture said it expects its full-year profit before tax and brand amortisation to be in the upper half of the current market forecast range of between GBP81.2 million and GBP118.0 million. In the financial year that ended June 28, DFS Furniture posted a pretax loss of GBP81.2 million.
DFS Furniture has signed an amendment and extension to its GBP225 million senior revolving credit facility with its existing syndicate of banks, with a new maturity date of December 2023. This refinancing has allowed the restriction against DFS paying dividends and making acquisitions to be lifted.
DFS Furniture said it will announce its results for the half-year ending December 27 on March 9.
By Zoe Wickens; zoewickens@alliancenews.com
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