Right at the very beginning of the current vogue for rolling, folding and boxing mattresses, one of the new direct-to-consumer market entrants had an interesting marketing strapline.

"Someone is going to lose their temper," a marketing promo read, in what, to educated observers, appeared to be a thinly-veiled swipe at Tempur, the foam mattress brand operating at the premium end of the market.

It that was the intention, it was most probably misguided.

We don't have 2017 numbers for Tempur yet in the UK but import data from Denmark — where the group's Dan-Foam factory is based — provide a steer if not a definitive guide.

Danish mattress imports were off by less than £1 million year-on-year in December, which in percentage terms represented a low single-digit fall.

2018 has begun strongly, at odds with the wider UK mattress market, albeit with the caveat that it can be dangerous to draw conclusions, especially as — unlike Tempur mattresses — the import figures can be a bit lumpy.

That means big leaps one month and falls the next, but with the arrival of June data last week (see related) we now have half-year figures. And, taken together, they are strong.

In the first six months, Danish mattress imports are up 9.1 percent to £11.6 million suggesting that Tempur is going well in 2018.

If the new market entrants are taking share from existing players, and they must be as the market definitely does not have a tailwind, there is little to suggest they are taking it from Tempur.

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— Mattress imports destined to break records again in 2018