Dunelm’s founders celebrate £58m payout after dividend leaps

The founders of soft furnishings and homeware chain Dunelm were celebrating a £58 million payout today after the retailer lifted its dividend by an inflation-busting 17%.

Founded by Bill Adderley and his wife Jean on a market stall in Leicester in 1979 and then run by their son William, the business lifted sales from its 150-plus stores by 7% to £881 million in the year to 2 July.

Pre-tax profits grew by 6% to £129 million.

Former Dixons boss John Browett, brought in as chief executive just over a year ago, said: “We continue to outperform the homewares market, and despite potential challenges to the economy over the coming months and the dampening effect on footfall of recent hot weather, we believe that Dunelm’s competitive position can come into its own, and are confident of continuing to deliver our growth ambitions.”

The board has decided to increase the ratio of dividends to earnings payout to reflect the strong cash generation of the business.

That means the ordinary dividend for the year went up 17% to 25.1p a share while a special dividend of 31.5p a share was also paid.

The extended Adderley family still own just over 50% of the business and so collects £58 million.

Browett added: “We are investing in our stores to make them much easier to shop in, whilst making sure our vast range of product maintains the value-for-money proposition.”