DFS Furniture Plc (LON:DFS) is seen to be on-track to meet full-year expectations, at least that was the view following last month's trading update, for the second quarter.
The sofa seller revealed that, excluding its acquired units, sales were said to be down 3.5% on the previous year.
With the integration of the Sofology business and the opening of new stores it is anticipated that the business is gaining momentum, and management has guided that they expect a stronger performance against comparatives through the remainder of the financial year - even if the market remains tough overall.
"DFS state the living room furniture market is likely to remain challenging in 2018 given consumer confidence levels," Shore Capital analyst Phil Carroll said in a note last month. "However, it expects to meet FY expectations which are for modest growth in EBITDA excluding acquisitions. This is to be driven via the annualisation of product and operating cost efficiencies in H2."
He added: "We believe DFS has been investing heavily in marketing spend over the Festive period so we are surprised that underlying sales are in decline to the extent reported. We were expecting a flatter performance albeit at a cost."
DFS releases its interim results on Wednesday.
Trading update: TUI AG (LON:TUI), Diploma PLC (LON:DPLM)
Interims: DFS Furniture Plc (LON:DFS), Inland Homes PLC (LON:INL), Tracsis PLC (LON:TRCS), Vernalis plc (LON:VER)
Finals: AA plc (LON:AA), Anglo Pacific Group plc (LON:APF), Arbuthnot Banking Group PLC (LON:ARBB), Ergomed Plc (LON:ERGO), Hilton Food Group PLC (LON:HFG), North Midland Construction PLC, Petropavlovsk PLC (LON:POG), Time Out Group Plc (LON:TMO)
Economic data: CBI UK distributive trades survey; US GDP third reading, US international trade in goods, US pending home sales