City briefs: Dunelm; Travis Perkins

Leicester-based homewares giant Dunelm has posted what it is a calling “robust” trading figures for its first quarter to October 1.

Total sales came in at £357m – down 8% on last year, but up over a third on 2019.

Dunelm admitted, however, that the macroeconomic environment was “challenging”.

Nick Wilkinson, chief executive officer, said: “It has been another robust quarter for Dunelm against a very strong comparative period, which illustrates the strength and resilience of our business model and the appeal of our market-leading offer.

“As we enter what will clearly be a challenging winter for consumers, our absolute focus remains on making every pound count for everyone, through a tight grip on operations. We will continue to offer outstanding value at all price points, so our customers can make their own choices around adapting to the economic backdrop. This focus on value has seen Dunelm successfully navigate previous periods of economic uncertainty.”

Northants builders merchant Travis Perkins has posted “resilient” Q3 figures for the three months to September 30.

Total sales grew by 10.7% and like-for-like sales were up by 7.4%.

Nick Roberts, chief executive, said: “The Group has delivered a solid performance during the third quarter with the Merchanting businesses again outperforming their markets and an improved performance in Toolstation. We continue to benefit from our diverse end market exposure from small independent builders through to large contractors delivering national infrastructure projects.

“During the second half of the year we have seen growing macroeconomic uncertainty. We are focused on maintaining cost discipline in our businesses and the actions taken to simplify our operating structure in recent years have created the flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions.

“All of our businesses see opportunities to further develop their propositions to meet our different customers’ needs, as they seek to navigate an increasingly complex construction landscape, characterised by new environmental and safety legislation and a commitment to deliver against net zero targets. We remain confident that our market-leading businesses, backed by focused capital allocation, a strong balance sheet and significant strategic growth opportunities, leave us well placed to outperform in our markets.”