The lockdown retail roller-coaster saw Dunelm sales rising dramatically in the second half of 2020.
Total sales for the homewares group were almost 拢720 million for the second half of 2020 鈥 23 per cent up on a year earlier.
The business said that was partly down to more people shopping online, which grew to more than a third of all sales.
The rate of year-on-year growth was down a bit in the last three months of the year 鈥 as stores in some areas were forced to shut 鈥 with the percentage of people going online inevitably up.
Chief executive Nick Wilkinson said: 鈥淥ur strong performance continued into the second quarter, whilst we adapted to the various restrictions and resulting store closures across our estate.
鈥淚 am immensely grateful for the engagement and resilience of the Dunelm team who, along with our suppliers, have demonstrated their outstanding commitment to our core value of being 鈥楽tronger Together鈥.
鈥淲e enter 2021 with further restrictions and our primary focus remains the health and wellbeing of our colleagues and customers across the business.
鈥淏eyond this near term uncertainty, we鈥檝e never felt more confident about the future.
鈥淥ur scalable proposition combines an in-store and digital offer which, with agile technology, we will continue to develop at pace.
鈥淎s our homes play an increasingly important role for all of us, we are well placed to build even closer relationships with our customers and extend our market leadership.鈥
In a trading update for the three months to Boxing Day, the Leicestershire-based chain said: 鈥淭he majority of the store estate was closed for a four week period during November, Welsh stores were closed for a 16-day period from mid-October and many stores were again impacted by further regional restrictions implemented towards the end of December.
鈥淭hroughout the quarter, consumer demand for homewares remained buoyant, and when our total retail system, including stores, was fully open, we performed significantly ahead of the market.
鈥淥ur online home delivery business has more than doubled since the same period last year as we continue to enhance the digital customer experience and ramp up our operational capabilities.
鈥淐lick and collect has remained popular with customers, equating to an average of 30% of prior year comparable store sales during periods of closure.鈥
The business said it was in a strong position despite the economic uncertainty, with net cash of 拢141 million 鈥 compared to net debt 拢68 million a year earlier 鈥 and access to 拢175 million of unused banking facilities.
In an update on the current market situation, the business said 174 stores were closed, with all but five of them operating a Covid-secure and contactless click and collect service.
Home Delivery services continue to operate as normal.
It said: 鈥淥ur first priority remains the health and safety of our colleagues and customers.
鈥淎t the beginning of the pandemic, we took rapid and significant steps to introduce prudent and safe operating protocols across our operations.
鈥淲e have maintained and monitored these practices throughout the year to ensure that we continue to improve and operate to the very highest safety standards.
鈥淎s previously announced, the board decided to repay the 拢14.5m Job Retention Scheme (JRS) monies claimed in the prior financial year and we are not making further claims.
鈥淔urthermore, to protect our most vulnerable colleagues and those not working due to the current restrictions, we have introduced a company-funded 鈥榝urlough鈥 equivalent scheme.
鈥淲hilst the supply of goods from Asia has been disrupted by port operations and global container shortages during the quarter, typical delays are now only 2-3 weeks.
鈥淎t the half-year end, stock on hand levels remained slightly below last year and we have higher goods in transit.
鈥淲e expect to rebuild stock levels during the second half of the year.鈥
Dunelm was famously started by the Adderley family selling ready-made curtains on Leicester market in 1979.
The first shop opened in Leicester in 1984 and over the following years the business developed into a successful chain of high street shops before expanding into out-of-town superstores.
The business, which has its head office in Syston, employs around 10,000 people and sells approximately 50,000 product lines.
