UK's Dunelm expects profit to beat estimates on strong summer sales
(Reuters) -British home furnishings retailer Dunelm Group Plc said on Thursday it expects full-year profit to be "slightly" higher than market expectations as an unusually hot summer made customers spend on seasonal items despite tough economic conditions.
A very hot May and June boosted sales of garden furniture and decorations, helping the retailer witness "particularly strong volume growth" in the fourth quarter, it said.
"During the quarter we lowered prices on over 1,000 lines, and our customers were also able to take advantage of great offers in our Summer Sale," CEO Nick Wilkinson said in a statement.
The company said its expects profit before tax for the full year to be "slightly ahead of current market expectations" of 188 million pounds ($243.08 million), but did not say how much profit it could make.
It reported total sales of 1.64 billion pounds for the full year, compared with market expectations of 1.63 billion pounds.
($1 = 0.7734 pounds)
(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
