The retailer has revealed revenue growth of 12.1% for the year ending June 30, 2012, with 3.1% like-for-like sales growth bringing its total sales to £603.7m in its cheerful trading update for Q4 and the full 52 weeks.


Bosses at Dunelm credited rainfall over the 13 weeks to June 30 for ensuring "consistently strong footfall into stores." The net benefit to total revenues from the weather conditions was estimated at £8m for the quarter.

The retailer is expected to have increased its gross margin by around 20-30 basis points for the full financial year. The board now anticipates profit before tax for the year will be approximately £96m. They attribute around £2.5m of this to benefits from poor weather conditions in H2.

Contributions from net new space was up 9%, and the latest store opening at Greenford brought the total number of new stores during the financial year to 14, including two relocations. Dunelm now has 115 superstores. It is contractually committed to opening a further 10 stores, one of which is a relocation.

The group said it "remains highly cash generative and had net cleared funds of £60m on 30th June 2012". Investment in the future growth of the business is rife, from new and refitted stores to core infrastructure including its web platform, leading to capital investment of more than £38m during the year.

Dunelm Mill chief executive Nick Wharton said: "The final quarter has seen further strong progress throughout the business, with robust like-for-like sales trends. In addition, we have continued to drive growth through new stores and our multi-channel offering, which now represents around 3% of revenue. Our continued focus on developing our 'Simply Value for Money' proposition has seen further market share gains.

"Looking ahead, we anticipate that consumer spending will remain under pressure. Nevertheless, with ten further store openings committed, a strengthening multi-channel offering and with our unique proposition resonating with a wide range of customers, we remain confident in the future growth prospects for the business."

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