Ikea assembles record-breaking profits

Swedish furniture giant Ikea finished off the most recent fiscal year with record-setting profits, according to media reports.

• Ikea to expand in Asia as sales keep growing (20 Sep 10)
• Ikea to sell second-hand furniture online (30 Aug 10)
• Ikea forecasts 'flat' profits for 2010 (22 Feb 10)

The company hauled in 211 billion kronor ($31.3 billion) in revenues over the past year, up 8 percent from the previous year, enough to yield a pre-tax profit of 26.5 billion kronor according to the company's first annual summary of its financial details.

Ikea is an unlisted, family-owned company and until now has not released
regular earnings reports.

"2009 was a tough year. After a longer period of increased costs for energy, food and housing, the economic crisis put further strain on everyone's income," Ikea vice-president and chief financial officer Sören Hansen said.

"During this challenging year, we have seen the importance of value for money increasing and, as a result, we have been able to attract even more customers to our stores," he said in the company's earnings report.

Friday's report also included some figures on the company's year to August 2010, with sales up 7.7 percent.

Ikea CEO Mikael Ohlsson, told business daily Dagen Industri (DI) thatthe company expects to increase its market share as it forges ahead with expansion in Russia and China, and eyes establishing stores in Serbia and Croatia.

In addition, Inter Ikea, which owns the Ikea concept and brand and is owned by the family of Ikea-founder Ingvar Kamprad, received 6.3 billion kronor out of Ikea’s operations during the last fiscal year, according to DI.

Ikea - famed for its flat-pack stylish furniture - has 280 stores in 26 countries. Some 204 stores are in Europe, which accounted for 79 percent of its year to August 2010 sales.

The usually secretive company also said Friday that its board decided in December 2009 to release a financial results summary annually.

"The yearly summary is aimed at our co-workers and suppliers as well as other stakeholders, who have shown an increasing interest in knowing more about different parts of Ikea," said Mikael Ohlsson, who took over as CEO in 2009.