Dunelm Regulatory News (DNLM)

1 September 2020

Dunelm Group plc

Trading update

Dunelm Group plc ("Dunelm" or "the Group"), the UK's leading homewares retailer, provides an update on recent trading.

Sales have been strong in the last two months, with total year over year sales growth up 59% in July, partly as a result of pent up demand following the store closure period and the timing of our Summer Sale, and up 24% in August1.

This performance reflects the strength of our proposition within a resilient homewares market, positive footfall growth to our mainly out-of-town superstores and continued strong growth in our home delivery offer.

Whilst the year to date performance has been materially ahead of our initial expectations, it is very difficult to provide any meaningful guidance on the future outlook given the uncertainty in the wider economy and the potential impact of further regional or national lockdowns. However, we remain confident in our ability to adapt to the environment and are well positioned to continue to grow market share.

We will provide a more detailed update as part of our preliminary results announcement on 10 September 2020.

1 To 29th August 2020

This announcement contains inside information as defined in EU Regulation No. 596/2014 and is in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of that Regulation. The person responsible for this announcement is Laura Carr, CFO.

For further information please contact:

Next scheduled event:

Dunelm will make its preliminary results announcement on 10 September 2020. 

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.

Dunelm is market leader in the £14bn UK homewares market and active in the £12bn UK furniture market. It currently operates 173 stores, of which the majority are out of town, and trades online through dunelm.com. Dunelm employs approximately 10,000 colleagues and sells approximately 50,000 product lines (including store and online exclusives).

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 broadened its product range 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 and blinds.

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

Dunelm has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since October 2006 (DNLM.L) and has a current market capitalisation of approximately £2.9bn.