dunelm group plc reported on wednesday a rise in pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2022 as a result of stronger sales across its retail system and the outperformance of both homewares and furniture the londonlisted softfurnishing retailer posted a pretax profit for the 26 weeks ended dec 25 of 1408 million pounds 1907 million compared with gbp1124 million for the same period a year earlier total sales rose 11 to gbp7956 million on year it added the board has declared an interim dividend of 140 pence a share up from 120 pence for the yearearlier period trading to date in the second half including the winter sale has continued to be encouraging and the board expects that pretax profit for fiscal 2022 will be in line with recently upgraded expectations the company said noting that it is confident in its longterm growth plans and further marketshare gains