TOP STORIES

• Ercol looks outside furniture sector for new 'Chief of Staff'

  Heritage furniture maker Ercol has appointed Dr Martens' business transformation director Antony Maskrey to the newly-created role of chief operating officer.

• Nasons of Canterbury in planned permanent closure

  Nasons of Canterbury, once one of the foremost independent furniture retailers in the UK, is to close both of its stores on a permanent basis next month.

• First-half living, dining and bedroom cabinet on the drift from key sources

  The value of imports of key cabinet categories from all three of the UK's main trading partners — China, Vietnam and Poland — all declined in the first six months of 2018.

• Cintique completes factory switch with vow to maintain identity, revitalise offer

  Furniture maker Cintique's move to the site of sister business Celebrity Motion Furniture won't compromise its identity, says Wayne Hollis, md of the two businesses.

• Half-year sofa imports slide 8.8% on weak Chinese shipments

  Upholstery imports into Britain fell in the first half of this year as a result of both lower demand and delays in product being shipped from the Far East.

• John Lewis negative home run stretches to 11 weeks

  Home sales fell 6.7 percent at John Lewis last week as the wide-ranging category trended lower than year-earlier trade for the eleventh consecutive period.

• Buoyant Upholstery aims to pick up recent Ultra gains

  The chairman of Buoyant Upholstery says he hopes the Lancashire sofa maker can pick up some of the pieces left behind following the closure of Ultra Furniture, the manufacturer with whom it shared an owner in common.

• BoConcept's biggest UK franchisee delivers 'solid' growth

  Profits doubled for the biggest operator of upmarket furniture stores under the BoConcept brand last year after it enjoyed a high single-digit percentage uplift in sales.

• Argos introduces 100-night trial across mattress range in challenge to rivals

  General merchandise giant Argos, one of the UK's largest retailers of beds, is taking the fight to upstart mattress rivals by introducing a 100-night trial across its mattress product range.

• July furniture sales disappoint, though WC exit eases retailers' pain

  England's run to the World Cup semi-finals was good for morale, but not for consumer furniture spending as a second retail monitor found big-ticket goods sales to have been lower than this time last year.