New stores help Wren to post a 67% rise in revenue

Furniture vertical Wren Living posted its first profit before non-cash costs as sales rocketed well beyond £100m in 2013, buoyed by category and store expansion.

Revenue climbed 67 per cent year-on-year to £136m in the year to end December, which marked only the fifth year of trade for the Lincolnshire based kitchens and bedrooms manufacturer and retailer.

It opened 15 showrooms during the year and expanded its product offer into freestanding furniture for the first time. It ended the year with 47 showrooms and is now trading from 50. This year has seen it develop the range further, with new plant and machinery enabling it to launch a bespoke made-to-measure offer for customers.

It also launched its ecommerce site at the end of the year under review, saying it was already its largest store by sales without yet seeing any considerable investment.

Other parts of the business have seen sizeable sums invested, with Wren saying it pumped over £25m into capital items during 2013, not including store refit costs which were charged to the profit and loss account as they were incurred. Wren moved to a new 750,000 sqft HQ at Barton-upon-Humber late last year.

Wren, part of the same group as ecommerce giant Ebuyer and ultimately owned by former Hygena Kitchens entrepreneur Malcolm Healey, posted its first EBITDA profit, turning around a £6.5m 2012 deficit to make £840k last year. Its heavy investment means non-cash depreciation charges are high, including £4.6m in the latest period. Wren narrowed its pre-tax loss by more than half to £4m.

Average staff numbers grew from 702 to 1,217 by the end of the year.

Source : The Furnishing Report
www.thefurnishingreport.com