DFS Furniture has revealed plans to float on the stock market as it seeks to expand internationally.
Famous for selling cut-price sofas in every colour and fabric, DFS said it expected to raise £105m by floating 25% of the private equity-owned company.
DFS is the biggest sofa retailer in the UK, with a near 26% share of a £3bn market. It opened its first shop near Doncaster in 1969, and now has 105 stores in the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands. It also owns pricier chains Sofa Workshop and Dwell.
Ian Filby, the company’s chief executive, said it had a 45-year track record of increasing sales and market share and that a flotation would allow it to grow further.
“Our vision is to take DFS from being a great British business to a world class business … We see significant opportunity to further increase the group’s penetration in the UK, strengthen our position as the market leader for online upholstered furniture sales and we recently entered continental Europe with the opening of our first store in the Netherlands.”
DFS reported revenues of £675m in the year to 1 November, and said orders since the important trading period from Boxing Day were up on last year.
The company has opened 27 UK shops in the past four years, and plans to roll out three to five new UK shops a year, as well as new Dwell and Sofa Workshop stores. DFS said there was also potential for up to 20 more shops in the Netherlands, if the first store in north Holland proved a success.
The company also announced the appointment of Julie Southern, former chief commercial officer of Virgin Atlantic, as a non-executive director.
