lebusDakota2019
Lebus is one of the U.K.'s biggest sofa manufacturers.
A fall in overheads boosted profits at Lincolnshire sofa maker Lebus Upholstery after sales were hit by the long spell of sunny weather that brought six straight years of growth to an end.

Kasen International Holdings, the one-time owner of a U.K. upholstery retail chain, recorded double-digit sales growth to Europe in the six months to end June.

ScS, the U.K.'s number two upholstery retailer, is expanding its customer service team at its North East headquarters.

AndrewMitchellRobWalker
Andrew Mitchell (left) of the Long Eaton Guild and Artistic Upholstery alongside Orbital's Rob Walker.
The Long Eaton Guild of Furniture Manufacturers has a new website and the fee for the project has been donated to St. Michael's Hospice, in memory of longtime Guild chairman Matt O'Flynn.

sofologyOwenWilson2019
Sofology is working with Owen Wilson again. The first of the new series of ads airs this evening (Aug. 21).
Upholstery retailer Sofology — which tonight premieres a new television advert with film star Owen Wilson — says it will open five new stores by the spring of 2020 including a first in Northern Ireland.

Duff & Phelps says "progress has been made" in its bid to claw back cash from a foam supplier for the benefit of creditors of fallen upholstery chain Multiyork.

nextHomeOfficialFW
The factory supplies Next stores and its online operation.
General merchandise retail giant Next expanded the output of its Yorkshire sofa manufacturing plant in 2018–19 but cautioned that activity remained in the developmental phase.

natuzziFactoryFW
Natuzzi has vast manufacturing operations.
Italian sofa giant Natuzzi says it will sell non-strategic assets and revise its worldwide manufacturing configuration as part of plans to insulate itself from new tariffs.

sofaWarehouse1
Sofa imports have climbed rapidly in the six months to June.
British buyers bought upholstery from overseas like never before in the first half of 2019 with arrivals from China and Poland leading the way.

One of the first direct-to-consumer sofa makers to allow shoppers to design their upholstery using an online configurator has agreed a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) with creditors.

dfsTVad
DFS is one of Europe's largest sofa manufacturers as well as retailers.
DFS has declined to snuff out speculation regarding the employment status of Harvey Ellis, arguably the pound-for-pound holder of the seniormost role in U.K. furniture manufacturing.

Sales growth accelerated at Essex sofa maker Alstons Upholstery in 2018, helping operating profits double for the Thai-owned manufacturer.

La-Z-Boy is to consolidate upholstery production in the U.S. leading to the closure of one factory there and the shift of a cut-and-sew operation at another.

lebusDakota2019
The Lebus Dakota range, which includes Springbond.
The manufacturer behind Springbond, an eco-engineered material used as carpet underlay, has diversified into the upholstery sector after agreeing a supply partnership with Lebus.

One of Europe's largest living, dining and bedroom cabinet furniture makers is to diversify into upholstery, building a new multi-million factory in Poland.

New equity funding and a property revaluation helped boost the book value of premium upholstery business The Sofa & Chair Company in 2018, consolidated accounts for its holding company reveal.

Privately-owned soft furnishings group Ashley Wilde grew sales and profits last year ahead of the spring 2019 buyout of a Scottish fabrics wholesaler.

Sales advanced at major upholstery fabrics supplier Mobus in 2017–18, but profitability was "restrained by pressures on margins and a restructure of the business."

scsFWsignage

ScS, Britain's number two upholstery retailer, will expand its Scottish footprint later this year as it takes store numbers to three figures. It also said yesterday that it is trading ahead of year-earlier levels.

London-headquartered upholstery vertical shrugs off tough conditions.

sofaComEdin550
Sofa.com's Edinburgh store.
The price paid and reason behind Sports Direct International's takeover of upholstery vertical Sofa.com has been disclosed for the first time. Neither will surprise many in the furniture trade.

The Government has issued its long-anticipated response to a 2016 consultation on U.K. furniture fire regulations, promising new procedures “consistent with those taken for other consumer products.” But change may be some time away.

Stressless has become the latest big-name furniture brand to open its own U.K. retail showroom, taking a heavily-trafficked unit on one of London's prime furniture shopping streets.

whitemeadow2019
Revenue climbed again for Whitemeadow.
Whitemeadow, the U.K.’s largest management-owned sofa maker, booked larger profits on higher sales in 2018 as it outperformed a declining wider market.

Profits jumped at Preston based sofa covers business Plumbs as efforts going back to 2016 to prune the company's cost base continued to yield improvements.

BensonsHarveysPW Cr
Bensons maintained sales, but orders were down at Harveys.
Bensons for Beds continued to outgun its sister retailer Harveys as the U.K. household goods division of Steinhoff International Holdings narrowed losses in the six months to end March.

sofaProductionFarEast
Goods arriving from China are tracking well ahead of 2018.
May saw a big leap in the value of upholstery arriving from China as problems with containers arriving from the country a year ago continue to unwind.

The failure of a customer and subdued demand weighed on sales for Scan-Thors (UK) in 2017–18, but the Yorkshire upholstery importer says it remains in a strong position to handle whatever the market throws at it.

Profits climbed at West Midlands motion furniture manufacturer Furmanac in 2017–18 after margin improvement from taking its fleet inhouse and a tax credit countered the impact of lower sales.

harveysIdolCollection2019
The new Idol collection.
National furniture retailer Harveys has added a second collection in collaboration with celebrity Louise Redknapp, building on the launch of its Bold by Louise programme last September.

dfsWhiteCity2018
All DFS brands delivered like-for-like growth, the retailer said.
Sofa market leader DFS said underlying gross sales have climbed by 7 percent in the year to end June, but cautioned that its progress moving forward is partly dependent on factors outside its control.

keithWilsonLaZBoy
Keith Wilson has been prompted to president, International at La-Z-Boy.
Former La-Z-Boy U.K. md Keith Wilson has been promoted for the second time in just over a year, becoming responsible for all non-U.S. business at the upholstery giant after being named president, International.

cabinetMaking
BFM drills down into the issues affecting furniture manufacturers.
One in four furniture manufacturers have made redundancies and nearly one sixth introduced short-term working as producers grapple with some of the most challenging trading conditions in years, according to a survey by BFM.

mattressFilling
Mattress production climbed though the overall bed market was impacted by divan production.
British furniture manufacturers' collective output declined last year with cabinet furniture producers and sofa makers among those seeing the biggest falls, new figures for 2018 reveal.

multiyorkTottenhamCourtRd
Multiyork's empty Tottenham Court Road store, subsequently taken over by IKEA for a planning studio.
Former employees of Multiyork have received a combined six-figure sum after an Employment Tribunal found the upholstery vertical failed in its legal obligation to its staff during the redundancy consultation period before its 2017 collapse.

The majority if not all of Steinhoff's U.K. corporate entities have shortened their 2017–18 financial year by a day, meaning accounts for the period are now not due for another three months.

East Midlands upholstery and soft furnishings producer Leisure Furnishings found extra margin in 2017–18, countering the impacting of lower sales.

The privately-owned Preston design and manufacturing group behind the iLiv and SMD interior textiles brands built a bigger export business in 2017–18.

HydelineAtTheHelmGallery
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.

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.

sofaWarehouse2
Retailers shifted more upholstery in May.
Higher upholstery sales led the way as furniture retailers enjoyed year-on-year growth in May.

wesleyBarrellManc
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.



Stay informed. Subscriptions start from less than £2 per week:



Already a subscriber?    Sign In