“A fantastic year”
Ikea’s group turnover for its fiscal year 2015 (1 September 2014 – 31 August 2015) reached 31.9 billion euro, an 11.2 % increase compared to last year. Its net profit reached 3.5 billion euro, up 5.5 % compared to the year before. Including its shopping center rental income, the group’s total income reached 32.7 billion euro, which is another 11.5 % increase.
“We have had a fantastic year and have invested a lot in sustainability, but also in a better product range and greater accessibility”, CEO Peter Agnefjäll said in a recently published annual report.
Growth mostly came from comparable stores but the new stores and its online expansion also contributed to the result. There was growth in most countries, with “record growth for Ikea Germany” and a positive development in Southern Europe”. North America also kept up its performance while Ikea’s new market (South Korea) “trumped expectations”.
771 million visitors
Ikea can keep strengthening its core activity in the “current stores and in new ways to meet the customers online, to create new store formats and to create pick-up points” thanks to the continued growth according to Peter Agnefjäll.
Ikea now owns 65 shopping centers and 328 furniture stores in 28 countries. Annually, Ikea welcomes 771 million visitors and another 1.9 million people online (+21 %). Its online customers spend about 1 billion euro, in 15 countries with a web shop. Ikea employs 155,000 people and 116,500 of those are active in retail. Remarkable fact is that nearly 1 in 2 managers (48 % to be exact) is a woman.
Ikea came to Belgium in 1984 and currently has 6 furniture stores here: Anderlecht, Arlon, Ghent, Hognoul (near Liège), Wilrijk and Zaventem. It will add stores in Mons and Hasselt soon, increasing its workforce well above 3,000.
