Company Announcements

5 December 2019

Dunelm Group plc

Trading Update

Dunelm Group plc ("Dunelm" or "the Group"), the UK's leading homewares retailer, is pleased to confirm that we have successfully transitioned all of our customers to our new digital platform.  We now have a modern, flexible, cloud-native platform that will be used to accelerate the development of our customer proposition.

Customers have responded well to the new website and we are delighted that during this critical transition period we did not see any adverse impact to our performance, maintaining our strong sales growth both online and in stores.

Gross margins have been stronger than expected as a result of sourcing gains and better sell through. Operational costs remain well controlled and in line with our expectations.

In light of the above, the Board now anticipates that the full year profit before tax will be higher than our previous expectations, assuming no significant change in consumer demand as a result of the outcome of the general election.

A more detailed trading update will be made on 9 January 2020.

This announcement contains inside information as defined in EU Regulation No. 596/2014 and is in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of that Regulation.

Ends

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Next scheduled events:

The Q2 trading update will be on 9 January 2020. The half year results announcement will be on 12 February 2020.

Notes to Editors

Dunelm was founded in 1979 as a market stall business, selling ready-made curtains. The first shop was opened in Leicester in 1984 and over the following years the business developed into a successful chain of high street shops before expanding, following the opening of the first Dunelm superstore in 1991, into broader homewares categories. Dunelm is now a multi-channel retailer, with Dunelm.com being launched in 2005 and the acquisition of the Worldstores Group in 2016 accelerating this further.   

Dunelm is market leader in the £13bn UK homewares market and active in the £11bn UK furniture market. It currently operates 170 superstores, of which the majority are out of town and trades online through dunelm.com. Dunelm employs approximately 10,000 colleagues and sells around 30,000 product lines in store, increasing to around 55,000 online.

Dunelm, "The Home of Homes", offers a customer proposition of style, value, quality and ease of shopping. From its textiles heritage, in areas such as bedding, curtains, cushions, quilts and pillows, Dunelm has broadened its product range to a complete homewares offer including the likes of kitchenware, dining, lighting, seasonal, wall art and rugs. Dunelm is one of the few national retailers to offer an authoritative selection of curtain fabrics on the roll and owns a specialist UK facility dedicated to producing made-to-measure curtains and blinds.

The product range includes many exclusive, own brand designs and owned premium brands such as Dorma and Fogarty. This is augmented by a range of other well-known brands and license agreements.

Dunelm has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since October 2006 (DNLM.L) and has a current market capitalisation of approximately £1.7bn.