Shares in the company were seen rising nearly 5% according to premarket indicators.

The company said trading performance reflected a combination of factors including higher consumer spending on homes, latent demand caused by lockdowns and its strategy to drive sales through hybrid digital and physical retail offering.

The company said while the year had started strongly, some consumers may be bringing forward spending decisions, which could hit sales later in the financial year.

It also added that significant uncertainty related to COVID-19 and the potential impact of Brexit exists, making it "exceptionally" difficult to assess the outlook beyond the short term.

"DFS is probably £100 (million) ahead of where it is expected to be in sales ... Customers are turning up in good numbers ... and they are not being shy with AOV (average order value) either," Peel Hunt analysts said.

The company said it recorded year-on-year order intake growth over the last six weeks that was equivalent to around 70 million pounds of revenue.

(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Anil D'Silva)