UK's DFS Furniture expects annual profit ahead of market view (updated)
20/01/2026 07:58
Updates with context throughout Jan 20 (Reuters) - DFS Furniture DFSD.L forecast annual profit ahead of market expectations on Tuesday, supported by cost cuts and improved order intakes, as the British sofa retailer announced a new finance chief. The company has been cutting costs by resizing manufacturing operations, and tightening its handling of cancelled or damaged orders, as it prepares for higher business rates and further minimum wage rise in fiscal 2026. DFS named Bloom and Wild finance head Dominique Highfield as its chief financial officer, beginning May. Highfield, who will succeed interim CFO Marie Wall, has also worked at Purplebricks, Pentland and Amazon AMZN.O. The furniture retailer expects adjusted profit before tax and brand amortisation between 43 million pounds and 50 million pounds ($57.76 million–$67.17 million) for fiscal 2026, compared with analysts' expectations of 41.1 million pounds, according to a company-compiled consensus. DFS forecast first-half adjusted profit before tax and brand amortisation to be 30 million pounds to 31 million pounds, a year‑on‑year increase of 13 million to 14 million pounds. Shares of the Doncaster-based company, which employs over 4,000 people and operates 115 showrooms in the UK and Republic of Ireland, have risen about 26% in the 12 months to Monday's close. ($1 = 0.7444 pounds) (Reporting by Ankita Bora in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Rashmi Aich) ((Ankita.Bora@thomsonreuters.com;))