Recticel says the disposal of the business unit taking in its comfort foam activities serving U.K. mattress, sofa and direct-to-consumer brands will be delayed, possibly until the first quarter of 2023.

Rising prices and increases in the value of both domestic production and imports helped the U.K. sofa market reach an all-time highest value last year, beating the previous record set in 2016.

More than 50 global furniture equities spanning market leaders in the U.K. and China saw the value of their shares fall on Tuesday on a grim day for the home furnishings industry.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has named the officials who will make up the inquiry group looking into the takeover of Recticel's Engineered Foam unit by Carpenter.

Furniture exports climbed in the three months to end June on the back of strong growth from the two largest buyers of U.K.-made goods.

The group behind the Oak Tree Mobility and Middletons brands bolstered its manufacturing capability with an under-the-radar acquisition of a motion furniture maker last year.

Millbrook Beds has agreed a three-year contract for Meachers Global Logistics to fully manage and operate its U.K. transport network on an exclusive basis.

National retailer Bensons for Beds has appointed the former group supply chain director of Dunelm as its new chief operating officer, the third person to hold the role since the start of the pandemic.

The value of mattress imports into Britain climbed for the eighth month straight in June but the figures belie a downturn in volumes since the late spring.

Specialist retail investment firm Alteri Investors is beefing up its support for Bensons for Beds with fresh financial backing as the 170-store beds vertical continues to deliver its transformation plan.

Growth slowed to its weakest level in over a year for U.K. furniture manufacturers in a sign production is catching up with the backlog from earlier high demand.

Pan-European retail group Beter Bed Holding is mulling the launch of a new bedding brand as part of its plan to build a nine-figure Internet business within three years.

The terms of an investment in the direct-to-consumer adjustable furniture brand Willowbrook have been disclosed for the first time following a venture capital backed buyout late last year.

EBITDA doubled to £2.18 million for the group behind an online vendor of mattresses from brands including Relyon, Jay-Be and Silentnight last year as it recouped sales lost during the pandemic.

Mattress Online has acquired the premises of Sheffield bed retailer Eades & Co and will rebadge it as its first fully-branded store. It will become its third physical showroom overall.

Stoke bedding and upholstery components supplier Handy has secured a deal with an Italian partner that will see it offer customers fully-computerised foam cutting machinery on an exclusive basis.

The owner of the Premier Inn hotel chain has appointed Silentnight as its official bed supplier in a contract win that will add millions of pounds of turnover to what is already the U.K.'s largest mattress manufacturer.

National retailer Bensons for Beds has raised £21,370 to help 100 children get a better night's sleep. It is part of a longstanding partnership with Absolute Radio's Cash for Kids charity.

Declining demand, rising costs and overall economic uncertainty across Europe will lead to a decline in PU foam production this year.

The National Bed Federation (NBF), the trade association for U.K. bed manufacturers and their suppliers, has appointed Tom Williams as its new sustainability and circular economy lead.

U.S. foam giant Carpenter offered to divest the U.K. comfort foam business of Recticel in order to get its takeover of the overall engineered foam. unit of the Belgian conglomerate over the line. But the offer didn't satisfy British authorities.

West Yorkshire mattress components supplier BC Springs built cash and stock through 2021/22 in a period that also saw the business deleverage.

Leggett & Platt, the global maker of finished and semi-finished products for the bedding and furniture industries, has for the first time confirmed the value of its takeover of the Kayfoam Woolfson business last summer.

Value of investments rise for owners of West Yorkshire memory foam mattress and bedding company.

Direct-to-consumer and wholesale company Simba Sleep has launched the Simba Green Organic Go mattress, which it says is a lower impact product with half the carbon emissions of a traditional hybrid mattress.

Restructuring advisors say one of the U.K.'s largest regional bed retailers is keeping to the revised terms of a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) originally agreed with creditors back in 2018.

West Midlands beds and upholstered furniture manufacturer Furmanac Group has appointed an experienced manufacturing executive as its new production director.

The CEO of Tempur Sealy International (TSI) says the number of acquisition candidates worldwide are growing as the world's largest bedding company announced a multi-million dollar investment in an emerging sleep technology platform.

The first new products since Birlea agreed a deal that sees it become the U.K. and Ireland distributor of Disney branded furniture are expected to arrive in the first week of October, its md says.

A change in the shareholder structure at Sleepeezee has given senior management a stake in the company for the first time this century, as well as a major incentive to build the value of the Rochester bed manufacturer.

Spinks, the diversified spring maker for beds, upholstery and other applications, has hired its first-ever global sales director.

Retail group Beter Bed Holding says the acquisition of a stake in a Polish bedding company is part of a plan to vertically integrate its value chain and give it more control over profit margins.

Eve Sleep says a number of potential suitors have progressed to due diligence stage as the direct-to-consumer and wholesale brand explores a possible sale of the company.

The managing director of regional bed chain Sussex Beds has confirmed its next two store locations as it follows through its plan to build an 80-store business within a decade.

Ergomotion has launched its new programme of smart and adjustable beds for the European and Middle Eastern markets including what it says is the first in the sector to be connectable with Garmin wearables.

Britain's antitrust regulator has elevated its investigation into the takeover of Recticel's engineered foam unit by Carpenter to an in-depth Phase 2 inquiry, heightening the possibility that parts of the deal affecting the U.K. will either not happen or be reversed.

Longtime consultant Martin Adams has formally joined the leadership team at ecommerce retailer Mattress Online, becoming its first-ever chief innovation officer.

The National Bed Federation has announced the names of the nine manufacturer and supplier members that are sponsoring this year's Bed Show and Awards programme.

Foam and sprung mattress imports into the U.K. declined on a volume basis in May on weak data from the two largest sources of overseas made product.

Maker&Son, the heavily-backed direct-to-consumer furniture brand previously cited as an emerging threat by major U.K. retail chains after a growth spurt during the pandemic, could soon change hands.



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