Sofa retailer DFS saw half year pre-tax profits fall 16% amid a slowdown in consumer spending brought on by cost-of-living pressures.
The Doncaster-based retailer has downgraded expectations for full year profits to between £30-£35m, at the lower end of its forecasts. Investors were told the furniture seller made underlying pre-tax profits of £7.1m in the six months to Christmas, down from £23.3m in the same period the year before.
DFS said it had still managed to increase market share by about two percentage points in a depressed upholstery market where cost inflations increased throughout 2022 compared to pre-pandemic levels. The firm also said it had a plan in place to return to historical gross margin levels.
