ScS Parent Makes Major Investment Into Stores & Ranges

• £57m refurbishment of 96 UK stores to be completed by August 2025
• Transformation of sofa collection and introduction of unique “any sofa, any fabrics” offer for UK customers – with more than 250,000 possible choices
• UK business is debt free and cash positive with investment supported by the existing cash in ScS and by the wider Poltronesofà parent group
• Financial strength “allows us to bring our obsession with quality and value to the UK market”, according to Group CFO Luca Mazzotti

Europe’s leading sofa retailer, Poltronesofà, is close to completing a £57 million transformation of 96 UK stores as the company offers UK customers an unmatched choice of ranges and fabrics and an enhanced in-store experience.

The Poltronesofà group operates over 310 stores across Europe and is the market leader in both Italy and France, with a market presence in Belgium, Switzerland, Malta and Cyprus. The Group acquired, entirely with own cash, the ScS Group in January 2024 in the next stage of its European expansion plans.

The wider group reported European revenues of over €640m, and EBITDA of €122m in 2023, before the ScS acquisition. Preliminary 2024 results for the European business show further EBITDA progress and cash and financial investments of more than €550m available. The financial strength has enabled the extensive strategic investment in the UK store estate. The investment began in June 2024 and is set to be completed at the beginning of August 2025 with the refit of the last 15 stores, setting the stage for sustained growth and a transformed customer experience.  

The major refit features an improved store layout on the style of the rest of the European stores, with a distinguishing modern look. The company has also improved the quality and style of its collection as it focuses on delivering the right offer to UK customers. Poltronesofà’s flexible “any sofa, any fabrics” offer now sets it apart from UK rivals with the inclusion of 66 highly customizable models: every model can be ordered in more than 200 different fabrics or leathers, with a total of more than 250.000 combinations as the company focuses on high-quality products at affordable prices.

The product and store overhaul, backed by the financial strength of the parent group, has also been accompanied by a strategic focus on the core sofa offering, withdrawing from flooring and dining businesses. 

The transformation has also involved detailed training for UK salespeople at the Poltronesofà “university”, which provides over 650 hours of courses at the group’s Forli headquarters to enhance the skills and product knowledge of its sales force.

Trading in 2025 from the 60 stores refurbished in 2024 has been extremely encouraging with significant sales increases in respect to 2024 and 2023.

Poltronesofà’s significant investment in the UK estate - with stores impacted by closure and clearance for up to 12 weeks on average – comes against a tougher trading climate and one-off acquisition and integration costs, temporarily lowering revenues and impacting profits in 2024.

But the UK business is performing in line with management expectations, with a close to breakeven EBITDA performance on revenues of £233m in the 11 months from the acquisition date (30 January 2024), following the significant investment in the store refit programme. Additionally, the business has no bank debt and a positive cash position despite non-recurring costs relating to the acquisition and refits. The company is also seeing an important return to orders growth in the current year in refitted stores and expects to be highly profitable in 2026 as it reaps the benefit of the first full year of normal trading after the major investment programme. 

Poltronesofà Group Chief Financial Officer, Luca Mazzotti, said: “The financial strength of the Poltronesofà business across Europe gives us the ability to invest for growth in the UK and we are already reaping the benefits of that investment.

"Over 30 years in business we have two burning obsessions – the quality of our products and delivering value to our customers. Now we are bringing those two obsessions to our UK customers with amazing store experiences and a superb new range of products and fabrics.

“Poltronesofà acquired ScS to enter a key market and support the next stage of its development, providing the capital needed to accelerate its ambitions. This significant investment – in product, stores and staff - shows us delivering on those promises.” 

Source : ScS

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