Furniture makers' output remained positive on a year-on-year basis during the height of the summer though growth was the weakest since lapping the start of the pandemic.

Shares in DFS climbed to their highest level in nearly four weeks as the U.K.'s largest upholstered furniture retailer reacted to Polish sofa maker Adriana acquiring shares in the business.

Leading companies and institutions across Britain's furniture and floorcoverings industries have responded quickly in paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II following her death on Thursday.

RH, the high-end U.S. furniture and furnishings retailer formerly known as Restoration Hardware, has pushed the launch of its debut U.K. gallery into next year.

Cavalier Carpets, one of the U.K.'s largest privately-owned flooring manufacturers and distributors, reinvested profits as the company bounced back strongly from the impact of the pandemic.

Furniture and home goods ecommerce platform Wayfair is preparing a new bond offering with a plan to use some of the proceeds to refinance existing borrowings.

Maison Shanghai 2022 and China International Furniture Expo, better known as Furniture China, have been postponed, a little over two weeks before they were scheduled to open.

The sofa group behind the Ashley Manor and Alexander & James brands is preparing for the planned departure of group creative director Scott Coggan, one of the highest-profile designers in the upholstery sector.

A sharp fall in sales and a switch away from a third-party logistics provider proved damaging to a kids furniture retailer that had been backed by the same financiers who supported erstwhile furniture retailer Lombok.

Cost cuts and better buying boosted margin as one of the largest department store retailers in the South West of England returned to profit through 2021/22.

Headlam Group's search for a new chief financial officer has entered its seventh month after a prime candidate for the position decided at the last-minute to withdraw.

A Yorkshire beds retailer with a large ecommerce operation has added live video chat and appointments to its offer, improving options for online customers based far from its showroom.

Major U.S. furniture vertical Bassett Furniture Industries has acquired Noa Home, the Canadian ecommerce upholstery and mattress vendor with operations in four markets including the U.K.

A North West ecommerce home goods retailer with ownership ties to the supply sector added turnover, profits and employee headcount in a breakout period, its first public-record accounts show.

Embattled furniture and homewares retailer Made.com Group (Made) has launched a new marketing campaign designed to set itself apart from competitors and galvanise sales.

Carpe Diem Beds, the Hilding Anders-owned Swedish bed brand, is expanding into the U.K. wholesale market as part of plans to increase its footprint in the British retail sector.

ScS says the new Ideal Home upholstery collections that first aired at its new-concept Coventry store earlier this summer (see related) will be rolled out across all of its U.K. stores and online.

Half-year revenue was close to flat in Europe for the bedding giant behind the Mlily brand as global growth slowed after a double-digit uplift in the first quarter.

The circa £40 million retail business behind the Beds.co.uk ecommerce website is exploring diversifying into other home products beyond the bedroom.

An insurance claim and wider gross margin helped profits climb at flooring wholesale group Headlam in the first half of the year despite an already-signposted decline in revenue.

Northern Ireland based furniture wholesaler Annaghmore Agencies recovered some of the revenue lost to the pandemic last year in a period that saw it build its inventory position.

An Italian design company based on the banks of Lake Maggiore enjoyed its strongest year in the U.K. in almost a decade as home sales surged in the aftermath of lockdown.

Sofa Brands International, parent to many of the largest upholstery brands in the U.K., is undergoing a restructuring process that has resulted in the departure of a number of senior executives, and other officials being handed new roles.

The restructuring advisors handling the insolvency of Nottinghamshire furniture importer Mark Webster and its parent company have said operations have now ceased following their appointment last month.

Modern furniture franchise BoConcept recorded highest-ever sales and EBITDA in the year to end April and said its strong order book puts it in a position to find further growth this year.

Sofa and flooring chain ScS opened the third of its new-format retail stores this weekend with a revamped unit in South Lanarkshire.

Higher prices saw the U.K. arm of Recticel achieve its widest gross margin in four years on the way to booking record sales and profits in 2021.

One of Furniture Village's seniormost executives has been recast in a new role as part of a reshaping of the board at the U.K.'s largest management-owned furniture retailer.

Upholstered furniture maker and retailer Arlo & Jacob is shifting its headquarters to the East Midlands in a move that will result in the closure of its former base in West London.

An auction house that has cleared stock for some of the biggest names in the furniture industry has ceased trading and signalled its intent to appoint administrators.

A three-store sofa retailer with branches across the East Midlands has deleveraged its business after paying down long term debt during a profitable year to April 30, 2022.

Three of the biggest retail brands in the country have announced multi-million pound investments in prices across furniture and home categories as they look to stimulate demand amid rising living costs for customers.

The imminent U.K. arrival of RH, the luxury furniture retailer formerly known as Restoration Hardware, will be supported by the launch of a clearance store at one of the industry's most popular destinations.

Glasswells is expanding the capacity of its third party storage arm as the privately-owned company builds on continuing investment across its home furnishings retail activities.

Mattress distributor DBC International has signed a partnership deal with Adova that sees it become the exclusive distributor of Simmons' Generation and Beautyrest collections in the Netherlands and Flanders.

Higher prices helped Belgian carpet maker Associated Weavers (AW) achieve double-digit sales growth in the U.K. last year, though it sold fewer square metres of product in the process.

Home goods giant IKEA is expanding the rollout of its London-centric click-and-collect service after a pilot programme earlier this year.

Freemans and Grattan, major vendors of home merchandise and two of the largest mail order shopping brands in the country, say customers' spending focus has shifted from furniture to fashion as pandemic trends unwind.

A fast-emerging ecommerce furniture retailer and wholesaler booked large seven figure profits through the pandemic and ahead of external investment earlier this year.

The probability that three major foamers will continue to serve the U.K. mattress and upholstery markets has increased after Carpenter and Recticel conceded the planned takeover of the latter's engineered foam unit would lessen competition.

A Chicago-area investment firm has doubled its position in ScS, the U.K.'s number two upholstered furniture retailer.

Home and lifestyle retailer The White Company is to build on the introduction of a new format 'curated store' concept earlier this spring with the addition of a second unit.

Narrower gross margin contributed to profits falling at the Karndean flooring group last year despite revenue jumping by the equivalent of about £74 million.

Profits reached their highest level in five years for the East of England manufacturing group behind brands such as The Old English Bed Company and Mattison Contract Beds in 2021/22.

Second quarter profits declined at Stressless and IMG brand owner Ekornes as higher prices and increased deliveries could only partially mitigate against rising costs.

A dedicated ecommerce site and new space inside Sterling stores will help BoConcept near double output in Scotland through 2023, the Danish brand's franchisee has told a national newspaper.

One of the world's most famous furniture and product designers has lent his creative skills to a new sofa model launching in the U.K. this week.

The Shanghai-listed upholstery group behind brands spanning Kuka and Rolf Benz among others shrugged off the impact of local Covid measures to find top and bottom line growth in the first half of 2022.

Discount variety retailer The Original Factory Shop cut borrowing by more than half in a year where adjusted profits trebled and it added a net 14 stores to its national estate.

Refund requests outstripped sales revenue on some days during the worst of the supply chain crisis according to administrators handling the fallout from a once prominent ecommerce upholstery business.

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.

National retailer Furniture Village has introduced The Yorkshire Collection, a programme of nine mattresses and seven divan bases from Leeds bed maker Harrison Spinks.

The first Covid lockdown heralded a mass launch of new enterprises across U.K. furniture and flooring production, wholesale and retail. More than 2,600 of those companies have already folded.

National retailer Bensons for Beds has launched its first collection of high-end mattresses from bed maker Hypnos as it looks to broaden its offer for higher-spending customers.

Cabinet and upholstered furniture maker Ben Whistler returned to profit last year after the bottom line took a hit through the first period of Covid.

The CEO of the group behind modern furniture and home décor retailer West Elm said cutting lead times is a focus as the brand continued to gain traction in its second quarter.

Airea, the parent company to contract floorcoverings brand Burmatex, has hired experienced home goods retail official Mederic Payne as its chief executive officer.

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.

Cabinet and upholstery importer Mark Webster Designs and its parent company Mark Webster Holdings were both formally placed into administration earlier this week.

Volumes climbed sharply among tufted carpet manufacturers last year while production of woven carpets was flat despite lapping restrictions from the previous year.

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.

A major Far East retail corporation operating IKEA stores in selected countries across the region found top and bottom line growth in the six months to end June.

Sales and profits climbed last year for a West Yorkshire flatpack furniture enterprise that sells through third parties such as Very and Amazon as well as via a sister ecommerce business.

High-end upholstered furniture brand opens latest showroom.

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.

A second six-figure equity issue inside four months has elevated the paper value of a prominent U.K. furniture search website.

Ecommerce-led case goods retailer Top Furniture followed a breakout trading period through the pandemic with further gains in 2021/22.

Ecommerce home goods giant Wayfair is to lay off 870 people across its global operation as it adjusts its investment priorities amid a weaker trading environment.

Gwyn Burr has told Made.com (Made) she intends to step down from the board of the company with immediate effect to give more focus to her other professional commitments.

A North West supplier of new, clearance and overstocked furniture online is trading through a different company under common control following a group restructure.

Upholstered furniture and floorcoverings retailer ScS has relaunched its Gateshead store in the North East as part of a plan to roll out new concept showrooms with a series of technological and visual enhancements.

Privately-owned furniture importer and distributor Mark Webster Designs and its parent company Mark Webster Holdings have each filed a notice of intent (NOI) to appoint administrators.

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.

Volumes were lower for the fourth month in a row for furniture and lighting retailers in July amid worsening confidence among consumers for high value items.

IMM, the international furniture fair historically held annually in January, will return after a three-and-a-half year hiatus with a one-off dateline in June next year, organisers have decided.

Chief financial officer promoted at £180 million ready-to-assemble furniture manufacturing conglomerate.

Upholstery and carpets retailer ScS has bolstered its operating board with the appointment of an experienced retail executive as its first ever chief marketing and digital officer.

Made.com (Made) has confirmed a capital raise is among the options being considered to plug a potential funding gap after the furniture retailer burned through cash at a higher-than-expected rate in the first half.

A sizeable chunk of a circa £40 million U.K. cabinet furniture maker is now owned by its management team following changes in shareholdings at the private equity backed business.

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.

Consumer price inflation for furniture eased to a six-month low last month according to new official data out Wednesday morning. But the total remains stubbornly high.

June saw the first increase in the quantity of upholstery shipped into the U.K. from China since the turn of the year as overall volumes continued their long-running ascent.

The West Yorkshire group behind the Freemans and Grattan home shopping brands has been recapitalised with million of pounds of new equity funding.

Upholstery brand Arlo & Jacob is launching a debut programme of handcrafted rugs designed by Julie Smith, its chief stylist and creative partner.

Furniture retailer Loaf has launched a new integrated advertising campaign featuring an updated strapline after partnering with a different marketing agency.

Ecommerce furniture sales fell again in the second quarter but by a narrower amount as the market began to normalise. Upholstery was the strongest product category for U.K. retailers.

Business group Inc & Co has been formally confirmed as the new owner of direct-to-consumer upholstery brand Maker&Son, as The Furnishing Report revealed nearly two weeks ago.

Living, dining and bedroom wood cabinet import volumes declined double-digit in June after turning negative at the start of the second quarter.

Hardwood cabinet chain Oak Furnitureland is adding new sofa ranges, ways to pay and product guarantees as part of a plan to build market share in what it called its growing upholstery business.

Kellie Oliver has been appointed managing director at upholstered furniture supplier AMX Design, parent company TCM Living announced Monday.

First half profits returned for the upholstery group behind the Alexander & James, Alstons and Ashley Manor businesses as it built sales momentum from the first quarter into the second.

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.

The value of shares in the U.K.'s two largest upholstered furniture retailers fell to levels not seen since the first lockdown last week amid continuing macroeconomic concerns.

An ecommerce company that sourced and sold responsibly-sourced U.K.-made cabinet furniture that was promoted via social media channels such as Instagram has been placed into liquidation.

The quantity of carpets imported into the U.K. fell for the fifth month in a row in June with high product price inflation not enough to send the total value above the same period last year.

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.

London based furniture company Andrew Martin International acquired a majority stake in a South Wales sofa manufacturer late last year, shortly before changes in its own ownership structure.

Skandium, one of the best-loved names in the U.K. modern furniture and interiors retail sector, continued to build last year following a pre-Covid buyout led by a third-party vendor of Danish design classics.

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.

Associated Independent Stores (AIS), the host of the open-to-all INDX Furniture exhibition taking place later this month, has announced the speakers for its Retail Insights: Furniture Focus programme.

Designer furniture, homeware and lifestyle retailer The Conran Shop has disclosed its first group financials since the U.K. headquartered international business changed hands at the outset of the pandemic.

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.

Listed flooring group Victoria has spent more in share buybacks in the past week than in the entirety of last year as it seeks to take advantage of a perceived undervaluation in its share price.

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.

Shippers are moving product more reliably around the globe in a sign supply chains may be beginning to normalise, according to a leading provider of analysis and advisory services in the sector.

South East high-end furniture, home and lifestyle retailer raises fresh seven-figure equity funding, valuing the business at £19.5 million.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has had a profound impact on the supply of engineered wood flooring according to a major U.K. supplier with worldwide sales north of £53 million.

Floorcoverings supplier Designer Contracts has opened a new facility in Berkshire that becomes its regional headquarters for the Western Counties area.

Direct-to-consumer upholstery brand Maker&Son is understood to have found a new investment partner after closing in on a deal that ushers in a new era at the circa £25 million business.

At the turn of the century upholstered furniture maker Vale Bridgecraft had more than 600 stockists, comprising many of the finest independent retailers across the U.K. and Ireland.

An eight-day strike at the U.K.'s largest container port is likely to impact the upholstery sector more than others across the home furnishings industry.

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

General merchandise retailer Next and lifestyle group Joules are in discussions over an ecommerce collaboration and the former taking a substantial stake in the latter to boost liquidity.

Panther Logistics has become the sole delivery partner for My Furniture, the East Midlands based furniture retailer that trades online and from a large Long Eaton showroom.

Home goods giant Wayfair will delay market expansion plans in favour of reinforcing its position in the U.K. and Germany amid a tougher macro environment.

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.

Restructuring advisors have been called in to a 75-year-old upholstered furniture vertical that sells through a mix of its own-branded and run showrooms and via third party stockists.

A desire to shift excess inventory is encouraging furniture suppliers to lean into Wayfair's marketplace business model while end customers are showing signs of trading down as cost pressures mount.

German furniture vertical Hülsta banked bigger profits at its U.K. retail and distribution arm in 2021 despite downsizing its shop footprint part way through the year.

Major upholstery chain ScS says it still has an elevated order book compared with historic norms with the unwind of existing bookings to help it record profits ahead of market expectations.

A South Yorkshire based ready-to-assemble furniture maker recorded a bigger deficit in the period that led to an external furniture group acquiring a quarter of the business earlier this year.

Fashion-to-furnishings retailer Next sold more of the former and less of the latter as it experienced a sharp reversal of last year's lockdown trends in the three months to July 30.

The London based company behind the Artisan Furniture brand recorded a fall in profits at its U.K. business in the 12 months to March 31 this year.

The sale of property and chasing overdrawn loan accounts has left better prospects for the creditors of a once-sizeable U.K. bedroom furniture maker, even those holding no collateral.

Official data shows the attrition rate through the Covid-19 pandemic has been steepest among medium-sized furniture retailers, with those with a turnover above £10 million having maintained their number.

Shares in furniture and homeware retailer Made.com Group plumbed fresh depths with the market capitalisation of the business now close to the value of its most-recently disclosed cash balance.

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

The U.K. finances of one of the trade's largest bedroom furniture companies are in better shape after its German parent company wrote off millions of pounds worth of intra-group borrowing.

Some of the brightest new designers entering the industry will showcase their talent as The Young Furniture Makers Exhibition returns for the the first time in three years this autumn.

Senior officials at bedroom and home office furniture chain Sharps retain a significant equity position in the c. £113 million turnover company following its sale by Sun European Partners late last year.

Colin Day, the founder and previous owner of upholstered furniture manufacturer Whitemeadow, has died after a prolonged battle with cancer, his family has announced.

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.

The company behind smooth floorcoverings ecommerce brand Luxury Flooring & Furnishings has agreed a multi-year delivery contract with XPO Logistics.

Narrower gross margin and the write down of a loan balance from a company under common control softened the impact of a return to top line growth for the group behind Andersons of Inverurie last year.

Carpet yarn spinner Lawton Yarns agreed a six-figure settlement to end a legal claim with its former owner Danspin in a deal cut ahead of its subsequent management buyout earlier this year.

Creditors of a Leicester based interior design and fit-out company owed £1.3 million are left sweating on book debt collections after the company folded.

Furniture and homeware brand Amara Living will this month launch its latest private label collection for the autumn winter seasons, with two more planned for early next year.

Fewer restrictions and a less onerous lockdown helped the wholly-owned U.K. arm of French furniture brand Ligne Roset return to growth last year.

Diversified Yorkshire cabinet group LPD saw its furniture division achieve eight figure revenue for the first time in the period leading up to a management buyout (MBO) this summer.



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



Already a subscriber?    Sign In