Chairman's AGM Statement

D.F.S. Furniture Company PLC 6 December 1999 DFS FURNITURE COMPANY plc CHAIRMAN'S A.G.M. STATEMENT At the Annual General Meeting held in Doncaster today, Executive Chairman Graham Kirkham said: 'I am pleased to report that the positive trends described in our annual report have continued in the year to date. We announced on 14 October that like-for-like delivered sales had increased by 6.7% in the first 10 weeks of our financial year. Since then our growth has accelerated, compared with a very depressed period in 1998, and like-for-like delivered sales in the first 17 weeks of the year are up 15.0%. We are undoubtedly continuing to win share within what remains a difficult market place. Our order bank is well up on the comparable period last year and margins are continuing to benefit from our increased proportion of in-house manufacturing, improved productivity, more cost-effective advertising and sales volume. Our first half results will also benefit from the first profit contributions from two new stores opened in the latter part of last year, at Beckton and Bolton. For all these reasons we anticipate that our interim results, due to be announced in April, will show a significant improvement on those for the comparable period last year. In the second half we face some tougher comparatives. However, I remain confident that our position as market leader in upholstered furniture and the fundamental strengths of our business will enable us to continue outperforming our sector. I look forward to reporting solid progress over the year as a whole.' Enquiries: DFS Furniture Company plc Hudson Sandler Graham Kirkham, Executive Chairman Keith Hann / Justin Strong Jon Massey, Chief Operating Officer Tel: 0171 796 4133 Ian Bowness, Finance Director Tel: 01302 330365
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