Swedes boost Ikea earnings

Swedes' love affair with cheap, functional, self-assembly furniture is strong as ever, judging by furniture giant Ikea's record Swedish sales figures, which were revealed on Friday.

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The company's sales in Sweden for the year ending on 31st August were 10.2 billion kronor, up 13 percent on the previous year, reported Dagens Industri, which has seen the company's annual report.

"We had a very ambitious target and aimed to achieve sales over 10 billion kronor. We succeeded in this by quite some margin. It naturally feels fantastic," said Ikea's Sweden boss Jeanette Söderberg to DI.

Söderberg credits the strong figures partly to good economic growth and Ikea's newly opened stores. But she said the most important factor had been the company's large price cuts. Over the past ten years, Ikea has reduced prices in Sweden by 25 percent.

Ingka Holding, the Netherlands-based holding company that owns Ikea, will receive 900 million kronor in dividends from the Swedish results. Founder Ingvar Kamprad can personally expect a healthy return from the success in his home market.

Sweden is Ikea's fifth largest market, accounting last year for 8 percent on the company's total turnover of 155 billion kronor.