The British homewares retailer reported sales reaching £299.9m in the 26 week period to December 2011, which its attributes to the group's continued development programme.
This included 11 new superstore openings, one of which was a relocation from an existing superstore unit. Like-for-like (lfl) sales for the half year grew by 1.1%, but despite this the company says it is "cautious" about its status in today's UK consumer marketplace.

Lfl sales growth in the second quarter was 3.8%, in part reflecting the more difficult trading environment in the weeks immediately preceding Christmas 2010, when snow was estimated to have dampened sales over the quarter by 200-300bps. The revenue performance for the half year was stronger than for the homewares market, as measured by the BRC home textiles index.

Following the high level of new store openings during H1, the total number of Dunelm superstores trading at the end of December 2011 reached 113. As at the period end a further eight new store opportunities were committed, of which four are anticipated to open in the second half.

Founded in 1979 as a market stall business selling ready-made curtains, Dunelm's current medium target is 150-200 superstores across the UK.

Its average daily net cash position over the half year was £47.6m, and the board is anticipating profit before tax for the period to reach around £52m.

Chief executive Nick Wharton said: "Dunelm has achieved robust trading results in a very demanding retail environment, and has continued to gain market share on a like for like basis. We have also made significant progress on our longer term development plan, not only delivering a very ambitious store opening programme over the last quarter, but also making fundamental improvements to our online offer that have been well received by customers.
"We remain cautious about the impact of the UK consumer environment on our trading in the near term. Nevertheless ... we remain confident in the future growth prospects for the business."