D.F.S. Furniture Company PLC
6 December 1999
DFS FURNITURE COMPANY plc
CHAIRMAN'S A.G.M. STATEMENT
At the Annual General Meeting held in Doncaster today, Executive Chairman
Graham Kirkham said:
'I am pleased to report that the positive trends described in our annual
report have continued in the year to date. We announced on 14 October that
like-for-like delivered sales had increased by 6.7% in the first 10 weeks of
our financial year. Since then our growth has accelerated, compared with a
very depressed period in 1998, and like-for-like delivered sales in the first
17 weeks of the year are up 15.0%. We are undoubtedly continuing to win share
within what remains a difficult market place. Our order bank is well up on
the comparable period last year and margins are continuing to benefit from our
increased proportion of in-house manufacturing, improved productivity, more
cost-effective advertising and sales volume. Our first half results will also
benefit from the first profit contributions from two new stores opened in the
latter part of last year, at Beckton and Bolton.
For all these reasons we anticipate that our interim results, due to be
announced in April, will show a significant improvement on those for the
comparable period last year. In the second half we face some tougher
comparatives. However, I remain confident that our position as market leader
in upholstered furniture and the fundamental strengths of our business will
enable us to continue outperforming our sector. I look forward to reporting
solid progress over the year as a whole.'
Enquiries:
DFS Furniture Company plc Hudson Sandler
Graham Kirkham, Executive Chairman Keith Hann / Justin Strong
Jon Massey, Chief Operating Officer Tel: 0171 796 4133
Ian Bowness, Finance Director
Tel: 01302 330365
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