Dumelm 2018 interim results
· Good sales growth; 6.0% like-for-like (LFL) sales growth, including store LFL sales growth of 3.5%, and 18.4% total growth.
· Continued market share gains in a broadly static homewares market.
· Good strategic online progress, with 36.8% LFL sales growth on Dunelm.com. Total online sales now at 18.5% of our total revenues, up from 11.7% last year.
· The integration of Worldstores is progressing well, with cost and efficiency programmes on track, and benefits to Dunelm.com sales proven. Revenue synergies dependent on a single, integrated, web platform.
· EBITDA of £79.1m (pre-exceptional items) down 2.0% year-on-year reflecting investment for growth and consolidation of Worldstores trading losses.
· EBTIDA (post exceptional items) of £76.4m up 7% year-on-year.
· PBT pre-exceptional items down 8.0% to £60.0m, and up 0.7% to £56.3m post-exceptional costs.
· Earnings per share up 1.8% to 22.2 pence (fully diluted, post-exceptional items), with core growth largely offset by acquired Worldstores losses year-on-year.
· Interim dividend increased by 7.7% to 7.0 pence per share (FY17: 6.5 pence per share).
