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Annual Report and Accounts 2015 Accounts and Report Annual 2015 Annual report and accounts DFS Annual report and accounts 2015 We are the sofa experts Design Manufacture Retail Service Contents Strategic report Financial statements Highlights 1 Consolidated income statement 77 Our business 2 Consolidated statement of comprehensive income 78 Chairman’s statement 4 Consolidated balance sheet 79 Market overview 6 Consolidated statement of changes in equity 80 Business model 8 Consolidated cash flow statement 81 Strategy 12 Notes to the financial statements 82 Strategy in action 14 Company balance sheet 105 Risks and uncertainties 20 Notes to the Company financial statements 106 Chief Executive’s report 24 Shareholder information 108 Financial review 28 Corporate responsibility 30 Governance Board of directors 34 Directors’ report 36 Corporate governance 39 Audit Committee report 46 Nomination Committee report 51 Directors’ remuneration report 53 Directors’ responsibilities statement 74 Independent auditor’s report 75 Highlights Strategic report DFS has continued its strong performance since becoming a listed public company with gross sales up 7% for the year. Our dedication to creating and making quality sofas that every home loves and can afford, combined with the culture of a family business, Governance continues to be at the heart of this success. Financial Group gross sales up 7.0% to £913.1m (FY14: £853.4m) Group revenue up 7.5% to £706.1m (FY14: £656.8m) statements Financial Group adjusted EBITDA up 8.4% to £89.2m (FY14: £82.3m) Group profit before tax £10.7m (FY14: £3.6m) Continued strong cash generation: 1.8x net debt / adjusted EBITDA Adjusted underlying EPS of 18.5p Successful IPO and refinancing significantly reduced debt and future interest costs Total dividend of 9.3p per share proposed, twice covered by adjusted underlying EPS Operational Proven growth strategy on track: UK stores – Five new 10-15,000 sq.ft. DFS stores opened in UK and ROI – DFS small store format successfully trialled in London: two more planned Broadening our appeal – 75% growth in branded upholstery orders through DFS – Sofa Workshop and Dwell store base expanded International – First Continental European store opened in The Netherlands in November 2014 – Opened Rotterdam store in September 2015, with one further store to be opened in FY16 Full utilisation of retail space – Six Customer Distribution Centres now operating successfully, releasing circa 70,000 sq.ft. of additional selling space Online – Strong 17% growth in web sales – New in-store and at home technology increasing customer engagement Continued strong increases in customer satisfaction scores; post-purchase NPS now above 80% Partnership with Team GB for Rio 2016 Olympics DFS Annual report and accounts 2015 1 Our business DFS is the leading upholstery retailer in the UK – passionate about making and selling high quality, great looking sofas since 1969. Heritage DFS. Typically, we have over 200 DFS was founded in 1969 with a single upholstery ranges on sale at any store and manufacturing workshop near one time. DFS at a glance: Doncaster. Over our 45 year history we have grown profitably to be the UK To further enhance our premium product Inspire market leading upholstery retailer with a proposition, we have established We are the UK’s 4th largest 25.7% share of the estimated £3 billion exclusive partnerships with Country retail advertiser. Our upholstered furniture sector in 2014, Living, House Beautiful, French ‘always on’ marketing according to Verdict. Connection and G-Plan and acquired drives consumer demand Sofa Workshop and Dwell. and awareness of our Distinctive customer proposition extensive product range At DFS, we design, manufacture, sell, Dedication to quality which aims to offer a ‘sofa deliver and install an extensive range of DFS products are designed and for everyone’. upholstered and other furniture products manufactured to exacting standards Create for our customers. Our product offering is and our confidence in our quality is Our own UK design studios complemented by our market-leading backed by an industry-leading free and upholstery factories consumer financing options, best-in- 10 year structural guarantee across all design and produce more class customer service, comprehensive our upholstery products. than a quarter of the after-sales service, a long-term guarantee furniture we sell, allowing and ongoing product support. All our products are handmade to lead times on some customer order by skilled upholsterers made-to-order sofas to be We engage with our customers either at one of our three UK factories or as little as three weeks. through our stores, live chat service, by our long-standing supplier partners. telephone call centres and websites Retail to offer a convenient, omnichannel Unmatched service proposition 105 DFS stores in the UK, customer experience. To complement our product quality, ROI and Netherlands, plus we also invest in our service. We directly 17 smaller footprint Sofa In store, our customers are able to benefit employ over 200 delivery drivers and Workshop and Dwell from our knowledgeable and well-trained crew to allow us to provide our customers branded stores. sales employees and the inspiration of with a full installation service. Our Our websites and apps our accessorised roomsets, with typically products are delivered into the room complement our store 60 to 70 ranges on display in each store. of our customer’s choice and then are network and provide Our online sales advisers are available unwrapped, assembled (if required) and a strong incremental to speak to customers 24 hours a day, inspected before all packaging material sales channel. 365 days a year and our live chat video is taken away for recycling. service allows us to engage with our Service customers face-to-face. To ensure our customers receive the Our dedicated in-house highest quality of aftercare we also delivery crew and Extensive product range employ over 150 of our own in-house upholstery technicians We aim to offer our customers the upholstery service technicians, with at provide full installation broadest range of upholstery products least one based in every store, to and service support. with a wide variety of styles, brands and promptly visit customer homes and price points, all of which are exclusive to address any service queries. Make a space Simply create a digital version of the room your sofa will sit in using our style library, or upload your own photos. 2 DFS Annual report and accounts 2015 Strategic report The clear leader in UK upholstered furniture retail Governance 45 years of specialist heritage in the design, manufacture and United Kingdom statements Financial sale of upholstered furniture & Republic of Ireland Service End-to-end direct control of all aspects of our operations, from manufacturing to delivery and after sales service, allowing us to offer high-quality customer service and increase operational flexibility • DFS stores • Factories • Dwell stores • Sofa Workshop stores DFS/Dwell/Sofa Workshop Today DFS employs more than 3,500 people and operates The Netherlands over 100 retail stores in the UK, Cruquius the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands, a comprehensive Rotterdam online channel, and our own three upholstery factories in the UK. DFS Annual report and accounts 2015 3 Chairman’s statement We remain dedicated to creating and making quality sofas that every home loves and can afford. We are proud to retain our family culture and our relentless focus on success. This is our first year end report since our listing in March and we are pleased to report a good performance across the financial year with our strategy wholly on-track. Richard Baker The continuation of encouragingly, giving us the confidence Chairman our growth journey to continue our international trial by Our flotation in March this year was an opening more stores and increasing exciting milestone in our transition from marketing spend. The opening of Sofa a formerly founder-led private company Workshop and Dwell shop-in-shops to an independent, listed business represents a natural step in our journey focused on delivering profitable growth to increase our appeal to a broader and cash returns to shareholders. range of customers and maximise Since joining as Chairman over five returns from our store warehouse space years ago, I have been consistently conversion. In addition, overlying these impressed by how the flexible business initiatives, our continued increase in model, vertical integration and scale of online participation gives us great our Group allow us to generate strong confidence that our omnichannel offer cash returns regardless of market will continue to deliver excellent growth. headwinds or tailwinds. I am delighted to see continued evidence that the Our markets growth strategy put in place by the The financial year saw a continuation executive management team is of the favourable upholstery sector delivering positive results across conditions experienced since the multiple initiatives. second half of our 2014 fiscal year, evidenced by the key macroeconomic There are still substantial further indicators of consumer confidence, potential opportunities for DFS in both housing market activity and consumer the UK and international markets under credit availability. our current strategy. The strong performance of our store opening programme is indicative of the long-term opportunity in the UK as we develop and test new store sizes and formats. Our trial store in Cruquius in the Netherlands continues to perform
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