Strong growth for IKEA at home and abroad

Ikea Group, which is a world leader in inexpensive, stylish kit furniture, said it had seen a 5.7-percent increase in revenue to €28.7 billion ($37 billion) for the year to the end of August, in an announcement on Tuesday.

In the same period last year revenue grew by 3.2 percent. 

Ikea Sweden reported that its sales grew by six percent in 2013/14 after falling in the previous two years.

"China was the fastest growing market, North America continued to perform well and while the challenging economic situation may not be over, Europe continued to do better," the group's chief executive Peter Agnefjäll said in a statement.

"We continue to see positive signs in consumer spending and it's a great joy to report growth in almost all our markets, not least in the challenging markets in southern Europe."

According to Agnefjäll, IKEA still has a large margin to grow. "We are still small in many markets," he explained.

Ikea Group owns 315 shops in 27 countries worldwide.

The figures published on Tuesday do not include 40 franchise stores.

The company is still managed from the Swedish town where it was founded, Älmhult in southern Sweden, where founder Ingvar Kamprad's three children are part of the management.

As it is still family-owned, Ikea is required to publish only limited information about its results.

The company is expected to publish an annual report in January with its net profit figures. Not all country divisions of the group publish their figures.