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IKEA

Russia and China lead huge sales jump for Ikea

Ikea, the world's top furniture company, said on Thursday its sales jumped 11.2 percent during its 2014-2015 fiscal year, thanks to gains in nearly all markets but particularly in China and Germany.

Russia and China lead huge sales jump for Ikea
Ikea saw the fastest growing markets in China and Russia. Photo: TT
The Ikea Group, the Dutch holding company which controls the Swedish brand's 328 stores in 28 countries, said sales totalled €31.9 billion ($35.7 billion).
   
China was the company's fastest growing market followed by Russia, with most of the sales growth, 5.1 percent, coming from existing stores.
   
Adjusted for currency fluctuations, sales rose by 8.9 percent.
   
“We are continuing to grow strongly in China thanks to the middle class which is showing more and more interest in home comfort,” chief executive Peter Agnefjäll told AFP.
   
Ikea opened three new stores in China during its 2014-2015 fiscal year.
   
Meanwhile Ikea said it registered record growth in Germany and North America performed well.
   
Still absent from Africa and South America, the specialist in flat-pack furniture that budget-minded consumers can assemble themselves, opened 13 new stores and welcomed 770 million visitors.
   
“Looking ahead, we see many opportunities for us to continue to grow through our stores…”, Agnefjaell said in a company statement.
   
He declined to confirm on information in the media that the group aims to create 100,000 new jobs by 2020.
   
“We are pursuing a growth strategy and we'll need to recruit in the years to come,” he told AFP.
   
While Asia was a priority, he said Ikea's management had always put emphasis on getting things right before studying opportunities for further development.
   
Despite the Dutch-registered company, Ikea is still managed from the town of Älmhult in southern Sweden, where it was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad.
   
Kamprad, whose fortune is estimated at more than €30 billion, still has a hand in running the company, and three children are part of the management.
  
As it is family-owned, Ikea is required to publish only limited information about its results. The company's annual report will be published in December.

WEATHER

Danish Ikea store shelters staff and customers overnight during snowstorm

Heavy snowfall left 31 people looking for a spare cushion at the Aalborg branch of Ikea on Wednesday as they were forced to spend the night at the store.

A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021.
A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Anyone who has found themselves wandering the mazy aisles of an Ikea might be able to empathise with the sense of being lost in the furniture store for a seemingly indefinite time.

Such a feeling was probably more real than usual for six customers and 25 staff members who were forced to spend the night at the furniture giant’s Aalborg branch after being snowed in.

Heavy snow in North Jutland brought traffic to a standstill and halted public transport in parts of the region on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in a snow-in at Ikea.

“This is certainly a new situation for us,” Ikea Aalborg store manager Peter Elmose told local media Nordjyske, which first reported the story.

“It’s certainly not how I thought my day would end when I drove to work this morning,” Elmose added.

The 31 people gathered in the store’s restaurant area and planned to see Christmas television and football to pass the evening, the store’s manager reported to Nordjyske.

“Our kitchen staff have made sure there is hot chocolate, risalamande, pastries, soft drinks, coffee and the odd beer for us in light of the occasion. So we’ll be able to keep warm,” he said.

“We couldn’t just send them outside and lock the door behind them at our 8pm closing time. Absolutely not. So of course they’ll be staying here,” he added.

The temporary guests were given lodging in different departments of the store in view of the Covid-19 situation, Nordjyske writes.

“For us , the most important thing was to take care of each other and that everyone feels safe,” Elmose said.

At least Ikea’s stranded customers and staff had somewhere comfortable to lay their heads.

The same can unlikely be said for around 300 passengers at the city’s airport who had to stay overnight at the terminal.

The airport was forced to stop flights from 2:30pm yesterday amid worsening weather, which also prevented buses from transferring passengers to hotels.

“We have around 300 people in the terminal right now and have been giving out blankets on the assumption they will be staying here tonight,” Aalborg Airport operations manager Kim Bermann told Nordjyske.

READ ALSO: Ikea reopens in Denmark after country’s worst retail month this century

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