Financial Highlights
Revenues up 14.0% to £406.4m (FY14: £356.4m)
Like-for-like (LFL) sales up 6.2% (FY14: down 0.9%)
Gross margin maintained at 50.4%
EBITDA up 7.0% to £77.6m (FY14: £72.6m)
Profit before taxation up by 10.7% to £68.2m (FY14: £61.6m)
Earnings per share (fully diluted) up 14.3% to 26.4p (FY14: 23.1p)
Cash flows from operating activities after interest and tax of £58.7m (FY14: £75.1m)
Net cash of £38.3m at period end (FY14: £26.4m)
Business highlights
Good LFL sales performance, including store-only LFL growth
Continued store portfolio expansion (six new superstore openings in H1; six more anticipated in H2)
Significant growth in on-line business, with home delivery sales up 76%
Growth strategy
Renewed focus on growth throughout the business - target to grow total sales by 50% over the medium term
Significant opportunity to drive further growth in in-store sales
Goal remains to expand from 142 superstores currently to c.200, with greatest potential in south
Focus within on-line business now on sales and profit growth through home delivery channel
Growth objective to be supported by continued investment in infrastructure, people and brand awareness
Dividend, Distributions and Capital Policy
Capital structure and dividend policy reviewed to reflect Dunelm's scale and consistent cash generation
Group will in future operate with modest leverage (up to 0.75x EBITDA) - £150m revolving credit facility in place
Interim dividend increased by 10.0% to 5.5p per share (FY14: 5.0p per share)
Proposed special distribution of 70.0p per share
Further special distributions to be made if net debt is consistently below 0.25x EBITDA
