Nobia, the parent company of brands including Magnet, Poggenpohl, Gower, Hygena and Pronorm, has suffered a poor year with significant losses despite the UK market pushing into profit.
The Swedish company's sales for its 2009 financial year, which runs from January to December, came to SKr 15.4 billion (£1.36 billion), down 4% from the same period in 2008.
However, its loss after tax was SKr 79 million compared to a profit for 2008 of SKr 529 million - a 115% drop.
The company blames this on the declining market demand, particularly in the Nordic region, and the cost of restructuring as it closed various factories.
However in the UK business unit, which is made up of Magnet, Gower and Magnet Trade, Nobia said demand stayed steady compared to 2008 and all price segments and sales channels reported higher sales.
UK sales hit £471.5 million and operating profit nearly £20 million. However, profits were boosted by one-off effects including renegotiating pension liabilities in Magnet and the sale of its Keighley joinery factory in Yorkshire.
Nobia now operates 222 group-owned stores in the UK.The continental Europe division, which includes Poggenpohl and Pronorm, saw sales fall by 2.6% to SKr 4.6 billion followed by major falls in profit. Like-for-like profits for the fourth quarter fell from SKr 116 million to a loss of SKr 5 million.
Preben Bager, Nobia president and ceo, said: "We implemented an extensive restructuring programme which is expectd to generate total annual savings of approximately SKr 140 million. We already started seeing the effects of the programme in 2009.
"I am also gratified that we saw the results of many years of marketing investments by capturing higher market shares in the UK in 2009. Over [2010] we will continue our focus on strengthening our brands and enhancing the efficiency of our supply chain."
The company has also announced a restructure at senior management level as well as a "repositioning" of some of its brands and a focus on product sourcing and logistics that will see it vastly reduce the number of products it produces.
All the brands, apart from Poggenpohl, will have their sourcing, logistics and production brought together under one organisation within the group. This means, Nobia said, that the brands will make use of the same carcasses and fronts "to a more significant extent" and the total number of articles in the Group will be more than halved.
The new organisation will see the number of suppliers decline and the volumes increase with those that are left. Sourcing from "low cost countries" will rise to 12% by 2012, up from the current level of 1.5%.
"Production will continue to be coordinated to fewer and larger production units. In the past year, the number of plants was reduced from 20 to 16, and will continue to be reduced gradually," a statement said.
