Doncaster's DFS warns of delays to sofas over Brexit

The firm, which has its headquarters at Carcroft, has said that customers are facing possible delays to some products because of potential delays to materials sourced from outside Britain.

Announcing its latest financial outlook, the firm said that it remains cautious in its outlook as Britain prepares to leave the EU.

Last year, the firm blamed the summer heatwave and uncertainty around Brexit for a slump in profits.

The company, which sells sofas, recliners and beds, maintained its full-year profit expectation, but said that it remained cautious and said that some customers could face delays following's the UK's planned departure on March 29.

The firm also said that its Chief Financial Officer Nicola Bancroft, who worked with the company for six years, will step down.

Mike Schmidt, currently chief development officer, will take on the role on an interim basis from April 1.

The company's underlying gross sales rose 10 percent in five months to December, partly benefiting from orders placed by consumers who deferred their purchase decisions in May, June and July due to hot weather.

The 50-year old company, which has 116 UK stores, owns the Sofa Workshop, Sofology and Dwell brands.

Britain's second biggest furniture retailer after IKEA, the firm began life in 1969 when 24-year-old entrepreneur Graham Kirkham began making and selling furniture above a Doncaster snooker hall and trading as Northern Upholstery.

Kirkham bought Darley Dale based Direct Furnishing Supplies in the 1980s, with the company being rebranded as DFS and in April 2010, the company was sold off to a private equity firm for £500 million.