Furniture
Chaotic scenes took place in all of Ikea's Belgian stores this morning. This was prompted by the launch of the new Markerad collection, designed by Virgil Abloh, the artistic director for Louis Vuitton.
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Asset manager Meditor has made an offer of 5 pence (6 euro cents) per share for the British Carpetright group, of which it already is the largest shareholder - with around a third of the shares in its portfolio.
Their first Belgian store has only just opened, but already French home decoration discounter Centrakor aims for a nationwide expansion. CEO Olivier Rondolotto is already entirely convinced: a dozen stores in the French speaking part of Belgium is only the precursor to a conquest of Flanders.
Swedish furniture giant Ikea is looking to acquire shopping centres in the United Kingdom as part of an expansion plan. This way, the retail chain wants to benefit from lower retail property prices.
Dutch bed retailer Beter Bed has succeeded in offloading its German subsidiary, Matratzen Concord, to investor Magical Honour. The latter is paying five million euros for the controversial mattress retailer and will invest just as much in Beter Bed Holding itself.
Inter Ikea (owner of the Ikea brand and manager of the franchise activities) may still have to pay millions of euros in taxes the company is said to have avoided, if two deals with the Dutch tax authorities are revoked.
French holding company Cafom is looking to sell its subsidiary Habitat. Loss-making branches of the furniture chain are to be closed.
The French furniture discounter Centrakor has opened its first Belgian store in Gosselies, near Charleroi - the first foreign store at all for the chain.
Last financial year, Ikea has managed to increase its retail turnover considerably. The group's online business is growing fast, while the number of visitors to its stores remains at the same level. The retailer is opening even more small shops and planning studios in large cities.
Scandinavian furniture retailer Jysk is continuing its expansion and reached a new record turnover last year. Over the coming year, the company intends to continue to invest and work on the integration of its sister company, Dänisches Bettenlager.
Ingka Group, the owner of the majority of Ikea stores, says it will produce as much renewable energy as it consumes by the end of this year and achieve its own target a year earlier than originally planned.
The Ikea store in Eindhoven is testing the consequences of not letting people pay in cash any more. If successful, the test may be expanded to other Dutch stores too.
Steinhoff, the South-African owner of chains like Conforama and Poundland, has achieved a decent turnover growth in the first nine months of its financial year. Still, billions of euros worth in damage claims keep the company in trouble.
Ikea is starting a lease in a shopping centre for the first time, in the Indian city of Mumbai. Even for the Swedes, the 'big box' era seems to end as the focus shifts to getting close to city centre residents.
Ikea has turned its latest catalogue into an audio-book and put it on Spotify. The goal of that campaign is to draw attention to the digital version of the catalogue.
British carpet store chain Carpetright has moved 45 million euros worth of debt from banks to its major shareholder Meditor.
