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Profits and revenue rising at Dunelm

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Homewares chain Dunelm was celebrating another hike in revenues and profits today as it continues to expand, with six new superstores and plans for another five later this year.

The chain has branches in Shrewsbury, Telford, Walsall and Wolverhampton, and is to open a new store in Cannock in the spring, creating up to 80 jobs.

Revenues in the 26 weeks to December 28 were up 4.8% to £356.3 million, while pre-tax profits lifted 2.9% to £61.6m.

Like-for-like sales, stripping out the impact of new stores, were down 0.9% over the six months as a whole but the last quarter saw them accelerate by 2.9%.

In a further boost to shareholders, after a special £50.7m payout in October, the interim dividend was increased by 11.1% to 5p per share.

The chain, with stores, has launched its first TV advertising campaign last year

Chief executive Nick Wharton said today: "Dunelm has delivered strong trading results over the period, and has made further important strategic progress."

The former West Bromwich schoolboy, who now now lives near Kidderminster with his family, was finance director at cycle firm Halfords when he was recruited to head Dunelm Mill in 2011. He added: "We have further strengthened our customer offer, particularly through service, and improved our infrastructure, whilst increasing scale through expanding the store portfolio.

"We have also invested significantly in increasing brand awareness, including through our first TV advertising campaign, and we are encouraged by the early results we have seen from this."