Retail giant Next continued to build headcount at its upholstery manufacturing unit in the past year, but output was lower on factory shutdowns. A write-down of assets hit profitability.

Mandated store closures gifted sales to ecommerce retailers through the early months of the pandemic but the momentum has slowed in 2021 as U.K. shoppers returned to brick-and-mortar retail environments.

Natuzzi Editions will open its largest U.K. store to date when it heads to Bristol next month. It is one of three imminent new showrooms for the Italian upholstery brand, including a first in Dublin, Ireland.

The achievements of leaders at emerging and established home furnishings businesses were recognised at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, whose 2021 winners were announced Monday night.

Recticel has cranked up the pressure on shareholders to back the sale of its engineered foams business to Carpenter Co, saying the plan has the backing of independent advisory firms.

A €370 million turnover upholstery and bed manufacturing group has agreed to buy Recticel's Bedding division, which makes finished mattresses and bed frames primarily sold into mainland European markets.

Upholstered furniture and beds retailer Willow and Hall ended a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) ahead of plan after creditors agreed to a revised repayment proposal.

Sofa import growth weakened in September but still grew on an annual basis for an eighth consecutive month on the back of increases from the U.K.'s two largest trading partners.

Delivered sales continued to climb at the same rate in the third quarter as they did in the second in the U.K. and Ireland for Ekornes, owner of upholstery brands Stressless and IMG.

Sofa market leader DFS has added Good Housekeeping to its roster of brand partners as it looks to drive average order value and conversion across its core business.

The upholstery group behind the Alstons, Ashley Manor, AMX Design and Alexander & James brands continued to make top line gains in the three months to end September, but the inflationary cost environment hit profits.

The group behind the Parker Knoll, G Plan, Duresta, Collins and Hayes and The Lounge Co upholstery brands is opening a new factory in Worcestershire as it looks to build capacity and future proof its requirements.

Profits at Man Wah Holdings, the recliner and upholstery giant with factories across the Far East and Eastern Europe, climbed almost a third in the six months to end September as sales jumped to record highs.

The value of furniture made in U.K. factories in September was over £27 million higher than any other month in history according to data released Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Upholstery producers are reporting further input price pressures for foam after converters and other suppliers of semi-finished products were hit with increases on polyurethane block supplies.

Gatemore Capital Partners, which describes itself as an activist investor that looks to create rather than just identify value, is said to be building a stake in DFS, Britain's largest upholstery retailer.

Preston sofa cover and reupholstery company Plumbs has introduced a new ecommerce brand offering finished removable cover sofas, armchairs and accessories.

A simple majority is all that is required for shareholders to approve the sale of Recticel's Engineered Foam unit to U.S. giant Carpenter.

There is less than a month to go until Recticel shareholders will get to vote on whether to sell the group's Engineered Foams business, which includes its comfort foam operations, to Carpenter, the U.S. conglomerate.

The price of key ingredients used in the flexible foam recipe have fallen in recent weeks, fuelling hopes among sofa and mattress makers that they may see their own costs ease as a consequence.

Upholstery retailer Sofas & Stuff will open its fourth new store this year and 19th overall when it opens in a former Laura Ashley unit before 2021 is out.

A leather, wood and fabric restoration product manufacturer that lists DFS, Harrods and John Lewis among its client roster has reduced its use of virgin plastic by 80 percent as part of an eco-drive to minimise its plastic packaging footprint.

Sanderson Design Group (SDG) has appointed former John Lewis Partnership chief financial officer Patrick Lewis to its board as one of two new non-executive hires.

Foam and fibre conversion business Breasley, a key supplier to U.K. furniture makers, has been formally renamed as Peak Converters to better reflect its 36-year manufacturing history.

Foam company Recticel has again advised shareholders not to sell their shares under the offer from Austrian rival Greiner as management look to enact their own plan to divest parts of the group elsewhere.

Buoyant Upholstery has becomes the first company in the furniture sector to join the Slave-Free Alliance, the social enterprise launched by global anti-slavery charity Hope for Justice with the aim of preventing worker exploitation in global supply chains.

Upholstered furniture retailer Sofa Club, which sells online and through lounges in major English shopping centres, will launch its first physical presence in the Midlands next week.

The British Furniture Manufacturers (BFM) has appointed an association leadership specialist as its new managing director while current incumbent Nick Garratt is to become its chairman.

The proposed takeover of the comfort foam business of Recticel by its industry peer Carpenter raised eyebrows across many U.K. furniture industry boardrooms, right across the supply chain from manufacturers to retailers.

Furniture wholesale giant Actona Group is to expand the scope of its global upholstery operations after agreeing the takeover of private equity backed Danish sofa maker Theca. More deals for other companies will follow, it said.

La-Z-Boy U.K. has acquired North West sofa maker Furnico in a deal that gives the U.S. headquartered upholstery conglomerate manufacturing capability within Europe.

Inflation figures released Wednesday made for grim reading. Consumers are paying over 10 percent more to buy furniture than they were this time last year, while manufacturers' input costs are increasing at twice that level.

Upholstered furniture shipments continued to rise strongly at the height of summer despite lapping robust figures recorded in the aftermath of the first Covid lockdown.

Revenue fell at all four of West Midlands and Essex upholstery group TCM Living's business units last year but three of them still managed to gain market share from their competitors.

New figures from upholstery group TCM Living show its two largest retail customers—both major furniture chains—were responsible for 61.4 percent of its £100 million plus turnover through 2020.

Venture capital and private equity group LDC says it has made a growth investment in mobility products group Kingswood, the owner of the Willowbrook adjustable beds and riser recline chair brand.

Plumbs slipped to an overall loss last year but the sofa covers and reupholstery business said it enjoyed a very profitable fourth quarter after benefitting from pent-up demand post lockdown.

British furniture manufacturers' combined turnover rose by a quarter against strong comparatives at the height of summer as the industry battled to meet surging demand.

Carpenter Co, the U.S. headquartered industrial conglomerate, has made a binding offer for Recticel's Engineered Foam division, which includes its comfort foam business serving U.K. upholstery and bedding customers.

The next phase in an intellectual property disagreement between two sofa companies, one in the U.K. and another in Ireland, is scheduled to take place this week.

Home, gift and furniture wholesaler SIL generated cash and returned to profit last year as lower costs negated the impact of a fall in turnover.

Customers pivoting away from the web and back to stores along with the collapse of Greensill Capital exacerbated an already perilous situation at Kidderminster sofa maker Wyvern Furniture.

The company behind Kidderminster sofa maker Wyvern Furniture has ceased trading and been placed into administration. All of its employees have been made redundant.

The principal U.K. arms of Carpenter and Vita, two of the big three comfort foam suppliers to Britain's bed and sofa manufacturing sectors, saw output and earnings fall amid the early months of the pandemic.

Direct-to-consumer brand Swyft Home is to launch into the non-upholstered living room furniture category with its first cabinet products.

Adjusted profits were up by half at ScS through 2020/21 as the upholstery and flooring retailer began unwinding its big order book resulting in a leap in delivered sales.

Management actions buttressed liquidity and profits at national furniture retailer HSL in 2020 as its customer base was impacted by Covid-19 to a greater extent than other demographics.

Existing local managers will oversee the business of iconic sofa brand Tetrad after the departure of its longtime md and former owner Janus Cooper, its parent company Belfield has said.

Walking away from tens of millions of pounds worth of business with IKEA was a bold move but Westbridge is finding new custom elsewhere, with both emerging and longstanding customers.

Belfield Group's upholstery businesses were more impacted by lockdown periods last year as its just-divested mattress unit delivered higher revenue amid the backdrop of the pandemic.

The group behind the Adjustamatic brand returned to profit and generated cash last year as lower costs helped mitigate the impact of a decline in delivered sales.

Market leader DFS is expanding the number of upholstery ranges it carries in its stores, paving a path for it to onboard new suppliers to the sofa chain.

Vita Group has acquired Belfield's Usleep business unit from NorthEdge Capital in a deal that makes the diversified foam conglomerate one of the country's largest manufacturers of finished mattresses.

Sofa giant Natuzzi continues to write new orders faster than it can manufacture existing ones according to its incoming CEO, who says the global supplier is prioritising ways to cut lead times.

Sofa Workshop by Timothy Oulton has been granted planning permission to remodel the interior of the listed former Lombok furniture store in central London.

The CEO of DFS says pushing further into the online bed market is the early focus of a wider plan to diversify the group's revenue base beyond the upholstery category.

55-store upholstery chain Sofology could follows its sister DFS brand into Ireland or add more smaller stores once its current new store pipeline has been fully unwound.

Rising freight rates have prompted independent retailers to switch buying strategies according to DFS, which has been shielded from the effects thanks to the structural advantage of scale.

DFS returned a high single-digit net margin in 2020/21 as it reversed a prior-year deficit that had been negatively impacted by the first Covid-lockdown.

Disruption from the pandemic ended a seven-year run of sales growth for upholstered furniture manufacturer Whitemeadow last year, but the decline looks likely to be short-lived.

Upholstery shipments jumped by half at the beginning of the second period of 2021 as the sofa sector continued to grab an outsized share of container availability.

Sofa and carpets retailer ScS has partnered interior designer and TV star Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, introducing a new upholstery programme across its stores and online.

Record levels of furniture are being despatched out of British factories but nowhere near enough to satisfy demand and bring lead times down to historical norms.

When the Prime Minister announced the first lockdown back in March last year the fear across the British furniture industry was palpable. Thick red lines were drawn through expense budgets and manufacturers up and down the country prepared for an unwanted game of who could hold their breath for longest.

Furniture brand Timothy Oulton will grow its retail footprint in central London after agreeing a lease in the neighbourhood bridging the city's financial and creative communities.

BFM, the trade association for British furniture manufacturers, says the BFM Fabric Show London will return next year, taking place in the week commencing March 7.

Dunelm said upholstery is among the developing categories it wants extend further into as part of plans to grow its current 1.3 percent share of the furniture market.

Sofology opened a new store last weekend and will add two more this month as it presses forward with plans to expand. It is doing so under new leadership following CEO Sally Hopson’s decision to step down.

Bedding and upholstery components distributor Handy has acquired the non-zip related assets and sales of fellow supplier Aero Zip, further expanding a product roster already numbering over 1,500 items.

Mark Smith has decided to step away from executive duties at upholstery group TCM Living and will be succeeded as CEO by Jonathan Fearn, who is currently the chief financial officer.

First half revenue in the U.K. and Ireland passed 2020 levels for Stressless brand owner Ekornes as the resumption of trade and store reopenings boosted the upholstery conglomerate.

Foam conglomerate Recticel reported double-digit revenue and profit growth from the business unit supplying U.K. mattress and sofa manufacturers in the first half of this year.

Phil Reynolds, technical development manager for furniture and furnishings at test house SATRA, is to lead a key British Standards Institute (BSI) technical committee that will likely influence the U.K.’s furniture fire safety regulations.

British furniture makers are on track to recover all of the lost revenue from a fall in exports last year with a double-digit climb in the value of goods sent overseas in the first six months of 2021.

The pandemic clipped the wings of the U.K. upholstery industry more than other furniture segments as the value of the market here last year fell to its smallest level since 2013.

Input price inflation for British furniture makers increased for an eleventh straight month in July as producers continued to wrestle with never-before seen pressures.

The parent company of Stressless brand owner Ekornes last month agreed a deal worth the equivalent of £61 million to buy out a minority shareholder.

Upholstery retailer Sofas & Stuff booked a big increase in profits in 2020 despite the pandemic, testament it said to the success of a turnaround plan that has been underway for three years.

Containers shipped and trucked into the U.K. from China and Poland led to the highest-ever recorded total of upholstered furniture arriving at U.K. ports in the first six months of 2021, new figures show.

The group behind the Alstons, Ashley Manor, Alexander & James and AMX Design sofa businesses saw strong second quarter revenue growth against comparatives heavily impacted by the U.K. lockdown last spring.

Natuzzi is opening up its iconic showrooms at High Point, North Carolina to its compatriots, renaming the ship-shaped building as Casa Italia and welcoming in other Italian furniture companies.

Furnishing fabrics, wallpaper and upholstery supplier Colefax Group doubled profits in 2019/20 despite the pandemic hitting markets worldwide.

Upholstered furniture manufacturer Whitemeadow has acquired what it described as a significant stake in one of its key foam suppliers.

Dudley upholstered furniture manufacturer ACL has agreed new debt finance that will support its product development plans including the launch of a recliner line.

The Furniture Industry Research Association has published new guidance for companies in the upholstery and mattress sectors with regard to understanding and complying with chemical regulations.

Full-year order intake at ScS almost matched 2019/20 trading as demand at the upholstery and flooring retailer oscillated with the opening and closing of its stores amid coronavirus restrictions.

New department store concessions have helped upholstery vertical Sofa.com expand its physical footprint despite the closures of standalone branches.

The collaboration with sofa market leader DFS continued to be the jewel in the crown of British lifestyle retailer Joules' licensing programme last year, with it also making inroads into home goods thanks to M&A activity.

East Midlands upholstery, cabinet and beds distributor Birlea Furniture continued to find profitable growth despite the pandemic in 2019/20 and looks set for more this year.

West Yorkshire adjustable furniture and mobility aids manufacturer Drive DeVillbiss Healthcare reported lower sales last year as sales to the retail sector were adversely impacted by the pandemic.

The CEO of foam company Recticel said it is difficult to predict when raw material challenges will normalise and cautioned customers that this may yet result in further price increases.

Employees of Lebus, one of the largest sofa makers in the U.K., now own 100 percent of the Lincolnshire manufacturer after its shareholders decided to sell the business.

Sales and profits declined at Brighouse fabrics supplier Mobus last year but the company said it is well placed to prosper amid a changing landscape in the upholstery sector.

A return to more normal margin levels boosted profits for the company behind LPD Furniture in 2019/20 with its furniture division achieving big sales growth despite the pandemic.

The debt repayment schedule agreed with creditors of Celebrity Motion Furniture is progressing as planned as the rise and recline chair maker continues to emerge from the problems of former associated companies.

Upholstery retailer Sofology will next weekend open its fourth new store this year as it accelerates its overall plan to launch double-digit store numbers across the entirety of 2021.

Upholstered furniture manufacturer Whitemeadow has hosted its first external Open Day as it looks to attract a new generation of home grown talent into the industry.

The CEO of Sofa Brands International (SBI) says the upholstery manufacturing group has seen a strong and sustained bounce back since the end of the first lockdown last year.

Revenue dropped by nearly a third for upholstery importer Scan-Thors (UK) through 2019/20 with the West Yorkshire company citing the dual impact of the pandemic and the closure of Laura Ashley, a significant customer.

The growth in sofa shipments to the U.K. slowed in the spring as retailers came closer to unwinding late 2020 orders and were left with only digital sales channels to replenish them.

Lower operating costs helped West London upholstery manufacturer and retailer The Sofa & Chair Company narrow losses last year despite the pandemic impacting sales.

The southern Italian sofa manufacturer behind the Digiò Leather Sofas brand will launch a new upholstery programme here next week as it looks to build on rapid growth following its reintroduction to the U.K. market last year.

The Vita Group, one of the largest suppliers to the U.K.'s upholstery and bedding sectors, has acquired Technical Foam Services, a foam conversion business based in Corby, Northamptonshire.

Pike Textiles, the Cambridgeshire based sampling solutions specialist, has become a member of trade association the British Furniture Manufacturers (BFM).

Expanding upholstery retailer Sofas & Stuff will next month continue its store buildout programme with the opening of a third new showroom this year.

Upholstery specialist Sofology is launching a new rental option which gives customers the choice of agreeing monthly payment plans for a fixed period before returning products back to the chain.

Paloma Faith, the singer, songwriter and actress, has launched her own direct-to-consumer and wholesale interiors brand, majoring in soft furnishings and with plans to expand into furniture.

One of the U.K.'s largest makers of upholstered furniture for the leisure industry incurred a first-ever loss last year as its principal market was among the hardest hit by Covid.

DFS, the U.K.'s largest upholstery retailer, has appointed Loraine Martins OBE, director of Diversity and Inclusion at Network Rail since 2012, as an independent non-executive director.

A showroom on Tottenham Court Road has doubled the number of Noble Souls stores in London as brand owner Timothy Oulton continues its worldwide expansion strategy.

International trade in upholstered furniture ticked up last year despite Covid-19 wreaking havoc through the supply chain, limiting the ability for manufacturers to produce and retailers to open stores.

Sofa fabrics supplier Mobus has paid tribute to md Ian Bostock following his decision to retire, saying he made a huge contribution and that it will look to build on his legacy.

Ships rammed front-to-back with upholstery landed on U.K. shores in the first four months of 2021 with imports up 43 percent year-on-year and 10 percent on a more comparable two-year basis.

Order intake at upholstery and flooring retailer ScS climbed 79 percent on a comparable two-year basis in the two months after its shops reopened this spring.

The soft furnishings supplier behind the ILiv brand found margin expansion as it mitigated the impact of a double-digit pandemic-influenced fall in sales last year.

Pent up demand meant comparable orders almost doubled for DFS as the retailer emerged from lockdown, with online business remaining high but returning closer to pre-Covid levels.

Demand continues to be high despite supply chain constraints according to the md of Lebus Upholstery, one of the U.K.'s largest sofa manufacturers.

The U.K. represents a big market opportunity for European companies as producers in the Far East are grappling even tougher supply chain issues than are being experienced here, according to upholstery producer Nicoletti Home.

Employee numbers at a small-to-medium sized upholstery producer in the North East doubled in the period leading up to and including the early months of the pandemic.

Upholstery brand Arlo & Jacob has launched a new programme called the Ready Made collection as it looks to take advantage of a surging housing market part-fuelled by the stamp duty holiday.

Losses widened at the group behind the rise and recline chair and adjustable beds brands Middletons and Oak Tree last year though it built increased liquidity through cash management.

The acquisition of Arlo & Jacob by upholstery group TCM Living will see floorcoverings added to the retailer's product roster as it leverages wider group manufacturing assets and synergies.

TCM Living, the upholstery group that owns Alexander & James, Ashley Manor, AMX Design and Alstons, has acquired sofa retailer Arlo & Jacob. It becomes the group's first business-to-consumer brand.

Lars Larsen Group has added to its roster of international furniture brands with the acquisition of SofaCompany, a €73 million turnover direct-to-consumer brand operating in multiple markets.

Higher delivered sales, a disposal and judicious cost management helped Italian upholstery conglomerate Natuzzi return to profit in the first quarter of 2021.

Sofology, Britain's third largest upholstery specialist, has teamed a new A-List celebrity for its latest television advertising campaign, which aired for the first time Monday night.

Five of the existing leadership team have completed a management buyout at East Midlands sofa designer, importer and distributor Siren Furniture. They plan to expand the business' customer base.

The managing director of one of the country's largest sofa manufacturers says keeping everybody working through the latest lockdown has proven correct, with it unwinding its order book and demand surging since stores reopened.

The world's largest leather processing business and a key cog in the global upholstery supply chain says it has developed new technology enabling it to produce leather that inactivates bacteria and viruses, including Covid-19.

Raw materials and other furniture makers' input costs are rising at their fastest pace in almost 13 years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Delivered revenue jumped more a third in the first three months of the year for upholstery group TCM Living, though rising sales costs owing to supply chain challenges weighed on profits.

A slew of private equity bidders are said to have been shortlisted as a sale of mattress company King Koil China nears a potential conclusion.

Foam supply giants Greiner and Recticel could unite after the former said it was planning a takeover approach after already agreeing to buy more than a quarter of the company from a third party. Officials will meet Monday to discuss a deal.

The U.K. arm of upholstery conglomerate La-Z-Boy said it had performed very strongly in a challenging market even if the pandemic overshadowed the last knockings of its just-reported financial year.

U.K. upholstery imports surged at the end of the first quarter on a mix of higher demand and annualising production problems in China because of the pandemic last year.

The unwind of pre-lockdown orders wasn't enough to keep revenue positive in the U.K. for Stressless brand owner Ekornes in the first quarter of 2021 as the lockdown prevented an immediate building on full year growth here for last year.

Italian upholstery vertical Natuzzi has hired a former McKinsey consultant as its new CEO with current incumbent and founder Pasquale Natuzzi to become executive chairman.

Sofa Club, the upholstery retailer that operates open-plan lounges across major shopping centres, is readying a second Manchester presence amid plans to ramp up its U.K.-wide network.

The CEO of major foam company Recticel says chemical raw materials supply remains constrained and the situation will endure longer than previously anticipated.

Upholstery retailer Sofology will open its 48th store ahead of the late May Bank Holiday weekend, the first of ten planned for the entirety of 2021.

Whitemeadow, the upholstered furniture manufacturer that employs over 650 people across its East Midlands factories, has launched an online Careers Hub.

Upholstery vertical Sofa.com found extra margin and modest pro-rata sales growth in the first period since it was bought by Frasers Group in 2019.

Sofa maker Furnico said excellent cost management and internal efficiencies helped it find additional margin last year, mitigating a lockdown-induced turnover drop.

Upholstery market leader DFS has appointed a new creative agency to manage its advertising account, ending a 10-year association with current incumbent Krow Communications.

Upholstery conglomerate La-Z-Boy is among a number of investors joining a $15 million Series B funding round for U.S. furniture ecommerce company Floyd.

Nicoletti Home, the Italian sofa manufacturer, will host a U.K. appointment-only event for its British and Irish furniture customers in Nottingham next month.

44 people a day lose their lives to bowel cancer in the U.K. and sofa retailer ScS, in partnership with its local football team and broadcaster ITV, organised a stunt to raise awareness of the symptoms.

New DFS filings disclose the market-leading upholstery group's cash position through the rump of the just-ended lockdown as well as early pandemic figures for two of its furniture retail subsidiaries.

Profits climbed on higher sales and wider margins last year for sofa manufacturer Ashwood Designs against a backdrop of increasingly difficult market conditions with the impact of the pandemic and Brexit.



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