Swedish-based Nobia continues on its worrying financial trajectory, as its 2024 profits were down by almost 250%, and it has closed at least a dozen more Magnet Kitchen stores in the UK.
In its end of year results covering business in 2024, net sales at Nobia totalled SKR 10.5bn (approximately £767m). This means sales are down by around 10% compared to last year’s figure of SKR 11.6bn (approximately £850m).
Net sales in the company’s Nordic home region fell by around 20% compared to last year’s figures, but remained completely flat in the UK, with 2024’s sales of SKR 4,773m (around £566m) remaining very similar to 2023’s SKR 4776m.
Nobia’s operating profit for the year plummeted by an alarming 240%, to SKR -827m (-£60m). Last year’s operating profit amounted to SKR -243 (-£17m). This continues a worrying operating profit decline for Nobia, after it also saw a 150% decline at the time of reporting its 2023 end-of-year figures last February.
Despite the lower sales this year, operating profit in the Nordic homeland was up by almost 80% for Nobia, rising from SKR 126m to SKR 225m this year. However, the opposite was true for the UK market, which saw a roughly 96% operating profit decrease between 2023 and 2024.
Nobia reported a staggering 117% decrease in its profits after tax, which worsened from SKR -515m in 2023, to SEK -1.1bn in 2024.
Kristoffer Ljungfelt, Nobia’s president and CEO, said that despite the lacklustre results, he was “pleased with the improved performance in the Nordic region, which delivered higher earnings and achieved market share gains despite a substantial volume decline in the project market.
Discussing the health of the UK market in particular, he commented that Nobia had “continued to make progress in transitioning to a new business model, while also implementing additional cost-reduction initiatives during the period.”
Last summer, Nobia publicly announced its intention to close underperforming Magnet Kitchens retail locations as part of its cost-reduction plans. By the time of its Q3 financial results in November 2024, Nobia followed through on its plans, confirming it had closed at least 15% of its retail stores in the UK.
In the end of year results, released today, Nobia confirmed it had also closed an additional 14 Magnet stores over the last financial quarter.
Ljungfelt concluded: “Amidst an uncertain market outlook, we continue to drive margin improvements by leveraging group scale, capitalizing on our strong consumer brands and executing cost-reduction initiatives, expected to yield another SEK 150m in savings during the first half of 2025.
“With progress on our strategic agenda, including the launch of production at our new Nordic factory, and the renegotiation of long-term financing terms in December, we are better positioned to navigate soft market conditions and leverage our position as the number one kitchen specialist as the markets recover.”