DFS warns profits to be hit by weather and general election

Sofa chain DFS has confirmed that profits will take a hit after an uncertain economic environment, the snap general election and warm weather led to weak trading at its stores.

The retailer said it saw “significant declines in store footfall and customer orders” from April to June, leading to a 4 per cent fall in second-half revenue.

It follows a strong first six months of the year, when sales rose 7 per cent, helping total revenue for the year ending 29 July eke out 1 per cent growth.

As previously flagged, DFS anticipates full-year operating profit to be lower than market expectations, in the range of £82 million to £87m.

The firm told investors: “The second half has been weaker than we expected owing to significant declines in store footfall and customer orders across April, May and June.

“We believe this to be an industry-wide issue, resulting from the uncertain economic environment and unexpected general election, exacerbated by warm weather in May and June.”

The group described the UK furniture market as “very challenging” with an uncertain outlook.

DFS added that it will seek out efficiency savings as revenue growth becomes “harder to achieve in the short term”. It said its summer sale “started satisfactorily”.

Last week DFS acquired rival Sofology in a £25m deal and will take over its 37 UK stores. 0 The chain warned that the market was ‘very challenging’