Markets / FURNITURE / Feb.03

Acquisition boosts £76m furniture maker Herman Miller

Pension gain improves funds despite loss

Herman Miller, the contemporary office furniture company, says the inclusion of a full year's trading from its 2010 acquisition of Colebrook Bosson & Saunders improved its top line last year.

Sales to end May grew more than 10 per cent to £76.7m for the British registered arm of the global furniture group, which serves both the domestic and contract sectors. The results include those from its branches in Germany, Italy and France as well as its Herman Miller BV subsidiary.

Colebrook Bosson & Saunders, which makes a variety of office and workplace products, had sales of just under £9m through the same period, up from £7.3m in 2010.

Herman Miller, itself a subsidiary of the US headquartered parent company of the same name, made a pre-tax loss of £2.5m, though a large actuarial pension gain was the major contributing factor in overall gains for the year totalling almost £4m.