Strong results in the second half of the year mean furniture retailer DFS will post record results for the full 12-month period, as gross sales exceed £1bn for the first time.

DFS Furniture plc today announced its half-year results for the 26 weeks ended January 28, 2017, with group revenue up 6.8% to £379.9million and pre-tax profit up 3.1% to £16.7million.

The positive performance means that gross sales for 12 month period exceed £1 billion for the first time in the company’s history and has lead to the announcement of a special dividend of 9.5p per share being declared, as well as a 5.7% increase in the interim dividend to 3.7p.

The group, which operates subsidiaries Sofa Workshop and Dwell, said the results demonstrated that its growth strategy is on track and continued its UK and ROI store roll-out, opening two new 10-15,000sq ft DFS stores in the UK, with one further opening planned for early April.

Its DFS small store trial has also been extended, with a new Crawley store trading profitably and the group has been busy optimising its retail space, with 17 new co-located stores opened: 15 Dwell, and two Sofa Workshop.

International expansion has also continued, with two new stores added in the Netherlands and one in Spain, which the company expects will generate a positive profit contribution.

Meanwhile, the retailer reported continued double digit growth in online traffic and transactions for the half.

DFS CEO Ian Filby said of the results: "I am pleased to report continued good sales growth and strong cash generation reflecting the successful implementation of our proven growth strategy.  This strong performance underpins our announcement today of our first special dividend for shareholders.

“The scale of our business, which is larger than our next four UK competitors combined, gives us significant advantages that allow us consistently to offer outstanding value to our customers. We are confident that our size, combined with the flexibility of our cost base and vertically integrated business model means that DFS is particularly well positioned to respond to economic headwinds and cost pressures while continuing to grow our share of the UK retail furniture market.

Our expectations for profit before tax over the full year accordingly remain unchanged, and we believe that DFS continues to enjoy excellent prospects to deliver long-term profitable growth."