Dunelm Regulatory News (DNLM)

21 December 2017

Dunelm Group plc ("Dunelm")

Appointment of Chief Executive

Dunelm, the UK's leading homewares retailer, is pleased to announce the appointment of its new Chief Executive, Nick Wilkinson, with effect from 1st February 2018.

Nick has extensive retail experience across a number of consumer brands, most recently as Chief Executive of Evans Cycles, the UK's leading cycling specialist, a position he held for five years. Prior to this he was Chief Executive of Maxeda DIY, a Belgian and Dutch home improvement retailer. Nick has also spent eight years with Dixons Retail, where he was Group Buying Director and MD of Currys.

Andy Harrison, Chairman of Dunelm, said:

"I am delighted with Nick's appointment. He brings an excellent retail skill-set with multi-channel experience across a number of consumer sectors and geographies. We are confident that Nick's proven business leadership and track record will help us to deliver our ambitious plans for growth in market share and creation of substantial value for shareholders."

Nick Wilkinson said:

"I am very excited to be joining Dunelm, the Home of Homes. Dunelm has so many strengths with an excellent customer offering, great people, trusted brands, a leading market position and numerous opportunities for further growth. I am really looking forward to working with the fantastic team at Dunelm and leading the company into its next exciting chapter."

Ends

For further information, please contact:

Notes to editors:

1. Nick Wilkinson was previously Chief Executive of Evans Cycles (2011-2016), the leading cycle specialist in the UK, during its ownership by Active PE and its sale to ECI Partners. Prior to this Nick was Chief Executive of Maxeda DIY (2007-2010), a €1.4bn turnover Belgian and Dutch home improvement business. Nick received his initial retail training with 8 years at Dixons Retail Group (1999-2006), where he was Group Buying Director and MD of Currys. Nick's early career was at Unilever and McKinsey & Co. Nick holds a degree from Cambridge University.

2. Nick's compensation package will be in accordance with Dunelm's approved Remuneration Policy and broadly in line with that received by our previous Chief Executive. The details will be fully disclosed in our 2018 Annual Report.

3. Save as disclosed above, there are no disclosures to be made pursuant to LR 9.6.13 in relation to Nick Wilkinson. 

4. This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014 ("MAR").

5. Dunelm's Q2 Trading Update will be announced on 16 January 2018.

About Dunelm:

Dunelm was founded in 1979 as a market stall business, selling ready-made curtains. The first shop was opened in Leicester in 1984 and over the following years the business developed into a successful chain of high street shops before expanding, following the opening of the first Dunelm superstore in 1991, into broader homewares categories. Dunelm is now a multi-channel retailer, with Dunelm.com being launched in 2005 and the acquisition of the Worldstores Group accelerating this yet further. Today, around 20% of sales are generated online.

Dunelm is market leader in the £12bn UK homewares market and active in the £11bn UK furniture market. It currently operates 169 stores, of which 165 are out-of-town superstores and 4 are located on high streets, and online stores, the largest of which can be found at www.dunelm.com, www.worldstores.co.uk, www.kiddicare.com and www.achica.com. Dunelm employs approximately 10,000 colleagues and sells around 30,000 product lines in store, increasing to around 300,000 online.

Dunelm, "The Home of Homes", offers a customer proposition of style, value, quality and ease of shopping. From its textiles heritage, in areas such as bedding, curtains, cushions, quilts and pillows, Dunelm has rapidly broadened its product offering to a complete homewares offer including the likes of kitchenware, dining, lighting, seasonal, wall art and rugs. Dunelm is one of the few national retailers to offer an authoritative selection of curtain fabrics on the roll, and owns a specialist UK facility dedicated to producing made-to-measure curtains.

The product range includes many exclusive own brand designs, and premium brands such as Dorma, Fogarty and Kiddicare. This is augmented by a range of other well-known brands and license agreements.

Dunelm has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since October 2006 (DNLM.L) and has a current market capitalisation of approximately £1.4bn.