DFS Group has revealed the damage to its financial position caused by lockdown, yet had made good headway since.
The retailer reported an underlying loss of £56.8m for FY20 (ended 28th June 2020), a reduction of £107.0m. Revenues stood at £724.5m – a drop of £271.7m from the comparative pro-forma YoY period, driven by the pause of trading during lockdown.
However, the current year has started well, with all DFS' showrooms now open and digital channels continuing to grow. YoY order intake growth improvement over the last 12 weeks, combined with a higher opening order book, implies some £226m of additional revenues to be realised this financial year, says DFS.
Group CEO Tim Stacey comments: “While the reported decline in profit is undoubtedly disappointing in headline financial terms, a significant proportion of this profit has already been recovered in the current year as we resumed customer deliveries.
"The current year has started very strongly with all showrooms now open and our digital channels continuing to grow. We believe that this growth is due to a combination of pent-up demand from lockdown, consumers spending relatively more on their homes and the strength of the DFS and Sofology propositions in particular."
