Retail group sitting pretty as it plans to return £80m to shareholders

Furniture retailer DFS has launched a £25m share buyback programme as part of a package to return almost £80m to shareholders in the next year.
The Doncaster-based business is also paying out interim and special dividends totalling £54m, “reflecting the group’s strong cash flow generation, robust balance sheet position and positive outlook”.
Tim Stacey, DFS’s group chief executive, said: “We delivered a strong performance in the first half of the year, with market share gains and strong revenue growth on the pre-pandemic comparators. This was in spite of significant logistics and supply chain challenges.”
Sales in the half-year to December 29 were £561.1m, down slightly on the previous year but 15% ahead of the same period pre-pandemic.
However pre-tax profits were down 70%, to £21.6m. This was attributed to “the prior year’s exceptional performance” – today’s figures show a 35% increase on two years ago – alongside the impact of increased costs, £21m of one-off Covid-disruption costs, and £1.5m of investment.
Stacey added: “Our expectations for total profits across FY22 and FY23 remain unchanged, with our confidence supported by our significant order bank and strong trading in H2.”
He believes the strong order book will mean that any additional supply chain disruption would only cause profits to shift into the next financial year.