Furniture retailer DFS, which has a store in Banbury, unveiled a record 79 per cent increase in full-year profits, despite not having opened a single store during the year, writes David Duffy.
The retailer said profits before tax in the year to July 29 had risen to 46.1m, compared with 25.7m at the same point last year. Turnover rose to 357.3m, against 295.5m last time.
Executive chairman Graham Kirkham said growth was driven by a number of factors, particularly the diversification of its product range, the growing impact of DFS as a brand of first choice among consumers, and a doubling in manufacturing capacity, which had improved margins.
Like-for-like sales, stripping out the effect of new stores or refurbishments, were up 18.9 per cent.
Shareholders will get a special dividend of 20p on top of the total dividend of 18.6p, itself a 24.8 per cent increase on last year's figure.
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