TOP STORIES

• Sofa, bed and cabinet sales all down in February

  Retailers suffered weaker sales in February with all four of the main categories — upholstery, cabinets, beds and carpets — seeing year-over-year declines.

• Bedding and soft furnishings chain closing almost half of its UK stores

  Bedding and household textiles retail chain The Yorkshire Linen Company is to downsize its "unsustainable" UK store portfolio after agreeing a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) with creditors.

• UK bed makers' sales down nearly 2% in 2018, says NBF

  Both the volume and value of mattress and bed base sales by British and Irish manufacturers declined last year with business optimism also falling, according to new data from The National Bed Federation (NBF).

• General merchandise giant Next targets furniture brand buildout

  Retail giant Next says it is taking the view that 'if you cannot beat them, join them' amid a process that will see its ecommerce business list more brands, including those operated by competitors as well as more furniture names.

• Furniture retail price inflation jumps to 10-month high

  Consumer price inflation for furniture items advanced to its highest level since the spring of 2018 last month according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.

• Furniture designs launched in UK to lose protection in Europe post-Brexit (and vice-versa)

  Unless an agreement with the EU is reached to the contrary, after Brexit any design which was first marketed in the UK will no longer be protected by the EU-wide design right, writes Simon Clark, partner at law firm Bristows LLP.

• Fast-expanding Wren closes in on £500m sales and 80 stores

  Sales and profits continued to climb at Wren Kitchens as the privately-owned cabinet maker and retailer took total investment beyond £200 million last year.

• ScS order intake lifts in 2019 as chain spells out cost of Sofa.com bid, HoF exit

  Interim numbers from ScS Group underscore how serious the retailer was about acquiring Sofa.com, with Britain's number two upholstery chain having spent a sizeable six-figure sum on the process.

• Sofa imports jump on higher Chinese, Italian arrivals

  Double-digit gains on upholstery shipped and trucked in from China and Italy boosted sofa imports in January, countering weaker figures from Poland.

• Fictitious transactions inflated Steinhoff profits, asset values by €6.5bn, report finds

  A small group of unspecified former Steinhoff International Holdings executives conspired to inflate profits or asset values over a nine-year period between 2009–2017, according to a report by PwC.