Image: HELMUT FOHRINGER (APA)
The furniture chain kikaLeiner sees itself back on track after the restructuring process was completed in autumn 2023. The sales development is “satisfactory” and corresponds to the restructuring plan, said kikaLeiner manager Volker Hornsteiner to the APA. The aim is to strengthen customer trust with new down payment protection. The “essential decisions” have been taken, such as reducing the number of branches, streamlining the range and strengthening the own brands, according to the co-managing director.
- Read here: kikaLeiner manager: “In three years no one should be talking about bankruptcy anymore”
After the boom in the furniture industry in the Corona years of 2020 and 2021, high inflation, stricter home loan guidelines and the construction recession have slowed down business since then. With the fall in interest rates and inflation, “demand is expected to pick up.”
In the 2022/23 financial year, the furniture chain’s sales amounted to 597 million euros and the accumulated loss was 144 million euros, according to the recently published annual financial statements. For 2023/24, the kikaLeiner manager expects sales of between 300 and 400 million euros with a branch network halved. This year, Hornsteiner wants to “further stabilize the organization” and “end the financial year in September with a black zero.”
Turbulent years: emergency sales and bankruptcy
In the past ten years there have been three changes of ownership, one bankruptcy and numerous branch closures with staff cuts. In 2013, the South African Steinhoff Group acquired the local furniture giant from the Koch family who owned it. At that time, kikaLeiner was the second largest furniture retailer in Austria after XXXLutz, with around 7,500 employees at 73 locations in Austria and Eastern Europe and sales of 1.2 billion euros. In 2018, Steinhoff sold the furniture chain in an emergency sale to the Signa Group led by Tyrolean investor Rene Benko. The new owner sold the kika branches in Eastern Europe to XXXLutz.
In June 2023, Signa surprisingly sold the kikaLeiner real estate to Graz Supernova and the operational furniture business to trading manager Hermann Wieser. A little later, the furniture chain filed for bankruptcy. 23 of 40 branches were closed at the end of July 2023 and over 1,600 jobs were cut. The branch network will not be thinned out any further; the company currently has around 1,900 employees. The restructuring process was canceled on September 25, 2023. Creditors receive a total quota of 20 percent, payable within two years.
You can read more about the topic here:
- kika/Leiner: Creditors agree to restructuring plan
- What happens to the closed Kika/Leiner furniture stores?
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