Dunelm Mill is the latest retailer to report a bounce back in sales performance, mitigating a like for like sales performance over the past 43 weeks.
Like-for-like sales for the 43 weeks to April 25 are down 2.5% but would have been much bleaker were it not for a stronger performance in its second half so far.

The 17 weeks to April 25 actually show a 7.4% sales rise equating to 2.3% increase on a like-for-like basis.

The turnaround appears to have been Dunelm's winter sale, of which ceo Will Adderley said earlier in the year: "Despite the recessionary background our winter sale was very successful, contributing to strong like-for-like sales growth in the first eight weeks of the second half." He reinforced this in this weeks' update, underlining the fact the company avoided "excessive markdowns" during its winter sale, thus protecting margin.

Things appear to have continued in the same vein since then. "Our 'Simple Value for Money' offering continues to attract customers and we are pleased with performance so far this period," said Mr Adderley. "Our strategy remains consistent and we still see plenty of opportunity to use our financial strength to roll out our successful superstore format across the UK.