Henner Schürholz deceased

Henner (Heinrich) Schürholz died on 17 May 2024. The textile engineer was 71 years old. His name is closely associated with the Dorsten-based company Dekowe. Since 1982, Schürholz had held responsible positions at the Deutsche Kokosweberei, which his family had co-founded in 1887. Even after the specialist for floor coverings made of the natural fibres sisal and coir was taken over by the Steffel Group in 2007, he remained Managing Director until 2012.

Lutz Group: New stores opened in Linz

In May two furniture stores of the Lutz Group were opened in Linz: A Mömax store and a XXXLutz store. The total investment for the Linz location amounts to 60 million euros. The sales areas are 30,000 square metres (XXXLutz) and 5,400 square metres (Mömax). According to the company, the new building will be the most modern furniture store in Europe, a 'best of' from all the knowledge and experience of the XXXLutz Group in 13 European countries.

Westwing grows in the first quarter of 2024

Online home furnishing retailer Westwing has reported a turnover of €109 million for the first quarter of 2024. This means that the company has grown by 6% compared to the previous year, despite a declining market. For the first time since the end of the pandemic, the number of active customers increased by 2% compared to the same period last year.

Einrichtungspartnerring VME with higher payout ratio

The German purchasing association Einrichtungspartnerring VME closed the year with a centrally regulated turnover of EUR 1.53 billion. This is well below the previous year's figure of EUR 1.76 billion. Nevertheless, the purchasing association of the furniture industry is satisfied in view of the "economically challenging times", also because the payout ratio to shareholders was "slightly above the very strong year 2022 at 1.165%", according to a press release.

Domotex Middle East ends successfully

The first Domotex in Dubai for 13 years has been hailed a success by the organisers. "The overwhelming success of Domotex Middle East 2024 reflects the vibrant and resilient nature of the global flooring market," said Sonia Wedell-Castellano, Global Director of Domotex at Deutsche Messe AG. Over the course of three days - from 23 to 25 April 2024 - more than 100 exhibitors exhibited at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The five countries with the largest exhibition space were Iran, UAE, Turkey, Egypt and China.

Furniture retailer Casa sold to AAS Retail

The Swedish-Lebanese businessman Ayad Al Saffar, through his holding company AAS Retail, has acquired a majority stake in the furniture retailer Casa from the investor group Globitas. Casa operates in 8 European countries. With the new owner, Casa will focus more on developing its e-commerce strategy. According to Vincent Nolf, CEO of Casa, the deal comes at an important time for the retail chain: "With this successful transaction and the entry of a strategic partner, we are in an excellent position to respond to developments in the omnichannel sector," reports the online portal Retailtrends.

Salone del Mobile with strong growth in visitor numbers

With an increase of 17.1% compared to last year, the Salone del Mobile 2024 has reached a record number of 361,417 visitors. The proportion of trade visitors rose to 26.8%, of which 65.8% came from abroad. These figures underline the importance of the event in the international furnishing industry. A total of 1,950 exhibitors from 35 countries took part in the fair.

Hey-Sign: Change in the management board

Katharina Günther, Managing Director at Hey-Sign for five years, will step down from this position at the end of April 2024. She will be succeeded by Markus Bader on 1 May. He joined Hey-Sign in 2019 as Business Development Manager and was most recently responsible for sales and marketing. In addition to Bader, Franz Endres and Florian Fetzer are members of the Management Board.

Südbund launches online magazine for end consumers

The living magazine is the name of the new online magazine with which the German purchasing association for interior decoration Südbund is now providing end consumers who are interested in living and interior decoration with inspiration. It replaces the previous printed magazine "Wohnen & mehr" and opens up new opportunities in digital format to generate and retain customers for Südbund speciality shops. It is updated four times a year with new content, seasonal focal points and lifestyle topics. The association also offers its customers and members the opportunity to customise the online magazine to suit the specific offerings of their specialist shop.

Rugvista Group reports record sales in the fourth quarter of 2023

Rugvista Group AB has published its annual report for the 2023 financial year. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the company reported net sales of SEK 233.3 million (EUR 20.1 million), an increase of 14.3%. Profit for the period totalled SEK 24.3 million. For the full year 2023, Rugvista achieved net sales of SEK 702.2 M (EUR 60.5 M), an increase of 9.8% (-9.3%). Organic net sales growth was 2.8% and profit for the period totalled SEK 70.0 M.