DFS confident despite sales dip

FURNITURE retailer DFS has seen sales fall in the first nine months of the year, it said this morning.

The Doncaster-based firm recorded sales of £446.8m for the nine months to the end of April compared to £486m the previous year.

Spending on the expansion of both its manufacturing and retail operations contributed to EBITDA falling from £56.2m to £44.5m.

Chief executive Ian Filby said: “In what has remained a challenging trading environment, we have continued to focus on maximising DFS’s market share and increasing the efficiency of our operations.

“As we expected,this has delivered an improving trend in our performance during the year, with the third quarter benefiting from a growing sales contribution from new stores and improved margins as the result of more cost-effective media buying.”

DFS is in the middle of an expansion programme including a new store opened last month in London’s Tottenham Court Road.

“Our expansion programme remains firmly on track, with 11 new stores opened during the first nine months of our financial year including our first store outside the UK in Dublin, which began trading at Easter. These new stores are performing well,” said Mr Filby.

“In total, our expansion is creating 500 new retailing and manufacturing jobs in the UK.”