Industry News & Analysis
The latest industry news and analysis—across all categories—listed in chronological order, with the most recent articles first.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Carpetright sells beds in nearly 200 stores, making it one of the biggest sellers of mattresses in the U.K.
Bed sales dropped more than a quarter as the category proved troublesome for the recovering Carpetright retail chain in 2018–19.
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- FLOORCOVERINGS |
The downsizing at floorcoverings chain Carpetright hasn't diminished its market leadership says the retailer's CEO as the company disclosed full year 2018–19 results.
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- CASE GOODS |
Revenue fell and losses widened ahead of the prepack sale of the business and assets of bedroom cabinet manufacturer Harrison Brothers (Furniture), administrators have disclosed.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
At The Helm's new gallery concept.
At the Helm, the new brand launched by upholstery supplier Hydeline Furniture at the beginning of 2019, is introducing an instore gallery concept to leading U.K. retailers.
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- OPINION & ANALYSIS |
Supporters believe the regs have saved many lives since their introduction in 1988.
Loved, loathed or tolerated, Britain's furniture fire regulations are some of the most stringent in the world. Introduced in 1988, they are also in need of a serious overhaul.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
Sofa.com, the Sports Direct International owned upholstery vertical, is to double the size of its instore concession inside House of Fraser's Bristol store, barely six months after it opened.
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- DATA & RESEARCH |
Retailers shifted more upholstery in May.
Higher upholstery sales led the way as furniture retailers enjoyed year-on-year growth in May.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
New role for former Silentnight and Harrison Spinks executive.
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- CASE GOODS |
Privately-owned kitchen furniture producer Burbidge slipped to a 2017–18 deficit after revenue fell and its cost of sales increased. A pension gain boosted its book value.
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- INTERNATIONAL |
Lars Larsen Group's new chairman Jacob Brunsborg.
Lars Larsen, chairman of the eponymous furniture group that owns global companies including JYSK, ILVA and Actona, is stepping down as chairman. His son, Jacob Brunsborg, is to succeed him with immediate effect.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
98 percent of Sharps' business is derived from bedroom furniture sales.
Fitted bedrooms vertical Sharps maintained forward momentum in the six months to end March as the manufacturer and retailer shrugged off a tough macro environment to increase sales and profits.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Sharps, the 78-store bedroom furniture maker and retailer backed by Sun Capital Partners, is planning to list corporate bonds issued last year on a Swedish exchange.
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- INTERNATIONAL |
The conglomerate behind the West Elm furniture retail brand has identified key markets for its international expansion programme, with Western Europe and existing territories such as the U.K. among them.
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- REGIONAL |
Balance sheet boost for privately-owned Kent furniture retailer.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
The Sleepeezee team presenting a cheque to the British Heart Foundation.
Strood bed maker Sleepeezee says it has given £250,000 to good causes over the past three years, supporting a range of local and national charities as part of its ongoing corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Dunelm says out-of-the-ordinary weather helped trade.
Furniture and homewares retailer Dunelm Group says profits will be higher than analysts' expectations after the weather helped boost late spring trade.
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- DATA & RESEARCH |
Consumer price inflation for furniture and furnishings moved out of deflationary territory to its joint highest figure in 13 months in May, new Government figures reveal.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Parlane is among the U.K.'s largest home accents and décor wholesalers.
Parlane International, the home accents company acquired by designer, manufacturer and distributor Gallery Direct earlier this year, is to clear £2 million of stock ahead of a warehouse move.
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- CASE GOODS |
Sigma 3's Moda modern bedroom range.
Kitchen, bedroom and home office furniture maker and retailer Sigma 3 posted sales growth in 2017–18 but profits declined as higher costs impacted margins.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Dreams was bought by Sun European in 2013.
Bed specialist Dreams says sales and profits advanced again despite a difficult U.K. retail backdrop last year, a fifth straight improvement since it was bought by private equity company Sun Capital Partners in 2013.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Steinhoff owns both the Harveys and Bensons for Beds businesses.
Customer confidence in the Bensons for Beds and Harveys retail chains was negatively impacted by the noise surrounding their owner, parent company Steinhoff said last night.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Losses at Steinhoff's U.K. household goods division deepened in 2017–18, the period that took in the disclosure of accounting irregularities at its parent company.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Tempur Sealy products will go back into 2,500 Mattress Firm stores during the final quarter of 2019.
Tempur Sealy International, the world's biggest bedding producer, says it has agreed a new supply agreement with Mattress Firm, the Steinhoff-owned retail giant, in a move that reverses the high-profile split between the parties two years ago.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Home sales advanced for the second straight week at John Lewis & Partners as total revenue across the chain advanced to a 20-week high.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Diversified distributor Supreme Imports has acquired lighting retailer LED Hut in an insolvent buyout brokered by administrators at KPMG. The deal safeguards 30 jobs.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
The business ceased trading in the spring of this year.
The phoenix company behind the brief resurrection of the vertically-integrated Wesley Barrell upholstery business has been placed into liquidation, more than two months after staff were told of its closure.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
Upholstered furniture producer Zhejiang Henglin Chair Industry, more commonly known as Henglin, has acquired Swiss office furniture maker Lista Office Group in a move that builds out its manufacturing operations beyond China.
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- ECOMMERCE |
Internet furniture retailer books six-figure profits for second year in a row as it reverses earlier deficits.
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- CASE GOODS |
Revenue fell and losses widened at the West Sussex kitchen manufacturer behind the Paula Rosa and Manhattan brands in 2018. Its outlook for this year improved after a surge in new business orders in the final quarter.
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- FLOORCOVERINGS |
Lawton Yarns, the £37 million turnover carpet yarn spinner whose products are used by a range of U.K. floorcoverings manufacturers, has been sold in a prepack deal.
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- REGIONAL |
Aldiss' Norfolk stores at Norwich and (inset) Fakenham.
Profits climbed at Norwich and Fakenham furniture retailer W.J. Aldiss after a strong order book going into the period helped deliver a return to top line growth.
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- LEGAL & RESTRUCTURING |
Parisot, a French furniture kit maker employing over 500 people whose products are sold into the U.K. retail market, has been placed into an insolvency process called redressement judiciaire.
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- REGIONAL |
Privately-owned retailer Fairway Furniture, which operates stores across southwest England, said depressed consumer demand resulted in intense price-led competitive pressures in 2018–19.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
The owners of luxury goods group Clive Christian say it is "business as usual" for its furniture manufacturing division after its fragrance unit was sold.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Home goods distributor Sabichi Homewares booked bigger profits after a fall in the cost of sales outpaced a dip in revenue for the year to October 31, 2018.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
The Yorkshire Linen Company traded from stores across the North.
A landlord-only CVA agreed earlier this year wasn't enough to save the erstwhile 27-store bedding and soft furnishings chain Yorkshire Linen, which has ceased trading following the appointment of administrators.
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- FLOORCOVERINGS |
Axminster Carpets is one of the industry's most historic manufacturers.
Historic floorcoverings manufacturer Axminster Carpets says it will post double-digit revenue growth when it files 2018–19 numbers as it looks to emerge from a turnaround phase.
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- ECOMMERCE |
The liquidation of a Yorkshire lighting and home accents business operating under a variety of retail brands leaves consumers facing a fight to recover funds.
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- FLOORCOVERINGS |
H Dawson Sons and Company, the Yorkshire wool supplier and owner of heritage carpet maker Axminster, agreed a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) with creditors this spring that it believes will put the business on sound financial footing.
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- CASE GOODS |
The sale of North West furniture maker Harrison Brothers last month provides a fresh start for the bedroom producer and its new management team.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
RH operates from huge stores, which it calls galleries, such as this one in New York's historic meatpacking district.
A first London gallery for high-end American furniture retailer RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware, could move a step closer with executives due to cast their eye over a series of properties in the weeks ahead.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Boyes trades from stores largely located across Yorkshire, northeast England and the East Midlands.
Narrower gross margin and a property impairment charge offset the impact of higher sales at value department store chain Boyes in 2018–19.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Former chief executive at furniture and homeware retailer joins board of Steinhoff in CFO post.
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- CASE GOODS |
Year-on-year imports of living, dining and bedroom wood furniture grew at their fastest rate since February 2018 at the beginning of the second quarter.
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- REGIONAL |
North West kitchen furniture maker, retailer and installer Earle & Ginger has completed a prepack restructure that secures the future of the brand, customer orders and jobs but leaves creditors facing a six-figure shortfall.
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- IN BRIEF |
Greenwood launched its 1,000th event last month, with independent retailer Jones & Tomlin.
Greenwood Retail, which organises and co-ordinates sales promotion events for leading U.K. independent retailers, last month held the 1,000th event in its history.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Arrivals from China are one of the exceptions, rising compared with 2018.
Bed imports into the U.K. are tracking lower in 2019 after four reported months of the year with April seeing a biggest fall yet in the value of sprung and foam mattress arriving from overseas.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
John Lewis & Partners is to create a single home improvement services division by integrating a company it bought in a prepack last year with its existing Home Solutions business.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Danish furniture retailer JYSK says it wants to break the £20 million sales barrier in the U.K. after targeting 30 percent revenue growth here this year.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Brook + Wilde's Elite mattress.
Vacuum packed mattress pioneer Breasley has agreed to be the exclusive supplier of sleep startup Brook + Wilde's Elite mattress range for bricks and mortar retailers, it announced in a press release.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
John Lewis' Oxford Street store.
Home sales returned to growth at John Lewis & Partners last week as the department store mutual enjoyed strong seasonal sales in the run-up to Father's Day.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
North West living, dining and bedroom furniture source Heritage Furniture has appointed experienced industry executive Tony Divito as sales agent.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
Sofa imports climbed on the back of higher arrivals from China. Image; Maersk.
Chinese sofa imports were up by almost half in April to drive a 27 percent overall year-on-year leap in the total value of upholstered furniture arriving on British shores for the month.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Privately-owned prestige furniture and lifestyle brand Neptune recorded higher sales again in 2017–18 but profits declined on narrower margins.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Pritex is located alongside Relyon at Wellington, Somerset.
Steinhoff has sold its diversified acoustic insulation, foam and fibre business Pritex in Somerset to the French headquartered industrial conglomerate Saint-Gobain.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
A British court has ruled that a Yorkshire bed maker that collapsed four years ago amid a human trafficking scandal be restored to the company register.
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- FLOORCOVERINGS |
Carpet imports into Britain are on target to rise back above £900 million in 2019 after the latest data dump from U.K. authorities showed a fourth straight year-on-year rise.
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- INTERNATIONAL |
20-year IKEA veteran Sara Del Fabbro has been named chief executive of the retail conglomerate's business for the South East Europe region.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
With one exception, furniture creditors backed Debenhams' CVA proposal.
Furniture industry creditors including one of the U.K.'s biggest independent retailers overwhelmingly backed Debenhams' company voluntary arrangement (CVA) last month with one predictable dissenting voice, new statutory filings disclose.
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- DATA & RESEARCH |
Retail footfall declined at its steepest monthly rate in six years last month but destinations most commonly housing furniture and flooring stores were among those to suffer the least, new figures show.
