Dunelm grew like-for-like sales 5.5% in the last quarter of its year, continuing an improving trend of previous quarters.
In a year-end trading update, the UK's homewares market leader said total sales in the 13 weeks to June 28 2014 were up 12.0%, while for the year as a whole, like-for-likes were up 2.1% and total sales up 7.8% to reach £730.2m.

Gross margins for the final quarter are estimated to have improved by around 50 basis points year on year, with an 80 points improvement for the full year, thanks to ongoing direct sourcing.

Pre-tax profit for the year is expected to come in at £116m.

Dunelm says it remains committed to differentiating its customer proposition and developing its specialist expertise. During the year the company rolled out its Dunelm at Home home design service, which is now available in 75 stores.

The company also invested in a new multichannel fulfilment operation. Multichannel revenues represented 6% of total sales for the year, although online is currently less profitable for Dunelm than the stores.

The retailer launched its first national television advertising campaigns during the year at a cost of £3m and says more are now planned.

Sales from new space - 12 stores - contributed 5.7% growth during the year, and the company now operates from 136 stores in total.

Commenting on future prospects, chief executive Nick Wharton said: "With a strong pipeline of new stores, further enhancements to our multichannel capability and a positive response to the continuing development of our customer proposition, the board remains confident in the group's long-term growth prospects."