Dunelm Regulatory News (DNLM)

11 October 2017

Dunelm Group plc

First Quarter Trading Update and Capital Markets Event

Dunelm Group plc ("Dunelm" or "the Group"), the UK's leading homewares retailer, reports the following trading update for the first quarter of its current financial year, comprising the 13-week period ended 30 September 2017.

Revenue

Total revenue for the first quarter rose by 24.8% to £247.9m. Total like-for-like (LFL) revenue grew by 9.3%.

1. LFL stores - stores trading for at least one full financial year prior to 2 July 2017 without any significant change of space

2. LFL Online - Dunelm.com

3. Non-LFL stores - new stores opened within the current financial year or prior financial year

4. Non-LFL Online - Worldstores.co.uk, Kiddicare.com and Achica.com

Commenting on Dunelm's performance, Andy Harrison, Chairman, said:

"We have maintained the good momentum from the final quarter of the last financial year. Our like-for-like sales were boosted by favourable weather comparatives and, pleasingly, we continue to outperform the homewares market, with strong growth across the business, especially online.

"The integration of the Worldstores business continues on plan, with good progress in the quarter. We are well on the way to becoming a genuine multi-channel retailer, with 16% of sales in the quarter online (19% including Reserve and Collect).

"We head into the second quarter having opened a number of new stores and with an improved seasonal offer for the Christmas period, which we're sure will resonate well with customers."

Gross Margin

Our Group gross margin in the quarter was in line with our expectations, being 220bps lower than last year for two reasons. Firstly, the mix effect of the addition of lower margin Worldstores sales reduced gross margin by 120bps. In addition, as previously highlighted, our focus on newness in our latest ranges and the planned higher seasonal sales mix impacted margins in the quarter by 100bps; this is not expected to continue. For the full year we expect the Dunelm gross margin, combining store and online, to be in line with the prior year. The Group (including Worldstores) margin will be down slightly reflecting the mix effect of Worldstores.

Store Portfolio

We opened five new stores in the period, taking our superstore footprint to 165 stores. We are now legally committed to a further five new stores, one of which is a relocation, all of which are due to open before the end of the calendar year.

We continue to grow our presence in the South-East and London and now have 11 stores inside the M25.

Financial Position

As at 30 September 2017, net debt was approximately £130m. Daily average net debt across the period amounted to £115m.

Capital Markets Event

We are holding a Capital Markets Event today, at our new warehouse in Stoke, for analysts and institutional investors. The agenda will include Dunelm's sales aspirations for the future with presentations from the operational team on Dunelm's business goals to support this growth and progress on the Worldstores integration. No new material information will be provided. The presentations from the day will be available at http://dunelm.production.investis.com/investor-relations/reports-and-presentations/2017.aspx 

Ends

For further information please contact:

Next scheduled events:

The Q2 trading update will be on 16 January 2018.

The half year results announcement will be on 20 February 2018.

Notes

1. Quarterly sales and margin analysis (prior year restated to include Worldstores):

*estimated group margin growth

**estimated underlying/pre-acquisition margin growth

Notes to Editors

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.