The boss of Dunelm said they are well stocked in case supplies from China become significantly affected by the coronavirus.
Speaking as the chain posted strong half year results, Nick Wilkinson said like many 海角视频 importers they had stopped all travel to and from China and were monitoring the situation closely.
He said there had been no financial impact as of yet.
He said: 鈥淐hina is significant. It鈥檚 the biggest overseas source of supplies for us.
鈥淲e have been through a couple of stages 鈥 first has been concern for the health and wellbeing of everyone over there.
鈥淲e do not have an office or staff out there but stopped visits virtually on day one and stopped visitors coming over here.
鈥淭he next thing is around continuity of supply and we are monitoring that daily.
鈥淚 would say the supply chain in homewear has several months of stock 鈥 in our stores, warehouses, vendors鈥 warehouses or on the water 鈥 so it would take a significant disruption [to impact on that].
鈥淔rom what we have seen to date we do not have evidence of any impact.鈥
The Leicestershire-based business 鈥 started in 1979 as a stall on Leicester market selling curtains 鈥 said pre-tax profits for the second half of 2019 were 拢83.6 million, almost 20 per cent up on the same period in 2018.
Revenues were up 6 per cent at 拢585 million for the half year 鈥 which is the first half of Dunelm鈥檚 2020 accounting year 鈥 thanks to a combination of things such as affordability, growing brand awareness, investment in e-commerce and new furniture lines.
Mr Wilkinson said brand awareness, for instance, had been helped by a sponsorship deal with ITV鈥檚 This Morning, while a year-long sponsorship of ITV鈥檚 First Dates kicks off on Valentine鈥檚 Day.
He said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a good first half. The numbers are strong and balanced and profits have been converted into cashflow that we are putting back into the business.
鈥淲e are building a brand that is better known. We grew in the East Midlands by word-of-mouth and now as a national retailer we are advertising the brand, sponsoring This Morning.
鈥淔urniture is quite new to us, and that has grown 40 per cent in the six months. Where we are doing particularly well is occasional furniture 鈥 occasional chairs, coffee tables 鈥 and mattresses and beds and sofas.
鈥淲e have also developed our digital capabilities with a proprietary e-commerce platform which launched in October which is much faster and much more efficient.
鈥淧retty much every consumer is an online consumer, even if they purchase in our shops, because browsing takes place on people鈥檚 phones and iPads, and even in-store colleagues will serve customers with iPads. Also, deliveries take place using text and e-mail.鈥
Right now about one-in-five sales are online.
The chain opened one new store and relocated another during the six months, with plans for two or three more openings in the first half of 2020.
It has 170 stores which it wants to grow to 200.
Overall Mr Wilkinson said they had seen good progress on the back of a strong performance a year earlier.
He said: 鈥淲e continue to build strong foundations for future growth.
鈥淭he successful launch of our digital platform accelerates our ability to innovate our customer proposition and we remain focused on operational improvements across all areas of the business.
鈥淭he third quarter has started well, with a successful winter sale across the total retail system.
鈥淎s a result, we expect full year 2020 profit before tax to be slightly ahead of the top of the latest range of analyst expectations.
鈥淲e have plenty to look forward to over the remainder of the year as we strengthen the Dunelm offer and help more customers to create the home they love.鈥
Nigel Frith, a senior market analyst at asktraders.com, which links investors with brokers, said it was good news all round.
He said: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 not to like? Dunelm has impressed once again with a 20 per cent leap in profits before tax, a solid 5.6 per cent increase in like-for-like sales and a reduction in net debt in its first half.
鈥淒unelm continues to avoid the gloom engulfing many retailers on the 海角视频 high street.
鈥淎s retailers across the 海角视频 struggle Dunelm is enjoying a robust performance thanks in part to the successful launch of its new online offering, which appears to be ticking all the right boxes and thanks to its broadening customer base following the sponsorship of This Morning.
鈥淪trong foundations are in place for Dunelm to enjoy a stellar year.鈥
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould added: 鈥淚n a sign of retail power, it is managing to get customers to buy lots of stuff without having to resort to heavy discounting.
鈥淎nd for all the chatter about people no longer going to the shops, it reports 鈥榩ositive footfall鈥 which suggests its stores still offer enough appeal to drag people out of bed to see the products in person.
鈥淎 pick up in house prices in January should benefit Dunelm as it suggests stronger activity in the property market. Moving house is a good excuse to buy new bedding, curtains and furniture, all of which is the domain of Dunelm.鈥
