Sales up, losses down at Homeform

KITCHENS, bathrooms and bedroom specialist Homeform defied the recession and the continuing woes of the property market to boost sales and cut its losses, newly-filed accounts show.

The private-equity owned Manchester company, better known for its Moben Kitchens, Dolphin Bathrooms and Sharps Bedrooms brand, also managed to turn a profit at Ebitda level after increased cost cutting.

Now owned by Delaware-based Sun Capital, Homeform was originally known as Limelight and spent several years on the stock market.

In the year to the end of March last year Homeform posted Ebitda of £955,000, compared with a loss of £3.4m in the previous year.

Turnover grew £3m to £151.2m, while at the bottom line, after depreciation, interest and restructuring costs the Old Trafford-based group made a loss of £6m, down from £12.3m in 2009.

Homeform trades out of more than 160 showrooms, around half are concessions within Homebase, Next, Laura Ashley and Focus stores..

During the year staff numbers were reduced by 100 to 1,349 as part of an efficiency programme, which cost the business nearly £1m in redundancy payments.

This helped trim staff costs from £30.4m to £28.3m. The group’s biggest cost was sales and marketing, £57m, unchanged on the previous year.

Homeform paid interest of £2.3m in the year to service its £30m+ debt – which is mostly made up of inter-group loans.

In his review of the year, chief executive Christopher Pavlosky – who was appointed last May – said: “The company is confident as the UK economy improves and further cost savings and efficiencies are implemented, the business will be well-placed to realise improved results.”

Looking ahead, he added: “The company operates in a challenging market in terms of competition from both national retailers and smaller independent retailers which is dependent upon the activity levels of the housing sector as well as levels of the consumers’ disposable income.

“With the severe recession within the UK, this has adversely impacted upon our business and that of our competitors.

“Our investment in both product and showroom offering, together with increased efficiencies in the supply and fit of our products is expected to enable us continue to build on our market position and to maximise our returns when the market recovers.”