News

Kaymed Woolfson has announced a deal to distribute an exclusive range of its Numuru mattress through House of Fraser. The Irish beds firm, which was this month sold to Dublin Investment boutique, FL Partners, can expect a healthy cash injection as it attempts to take on the likes of Tempur with a consumer advertising campaign.

An investment group set up by former IBI Corporate Finance chief has bought one of Ireland's biggest bedding manufacturers. FL Partners said it has completed the acquisition of Kayfoam Woolfson, which employs 270 people in Dublin and Kildare. No financial details of the deal were given.

Portadown furniture maker, McDonagh furniture, announced that they are set to close in the coming months with the loss of 75 jobs after 100 years in business. McDonagh furniture have posted a message on their website with details in relation to the closure. The company stated foreign imports as a key factor in their decision to close. Their ranges have being on sale in retail outlets throughout Ireland and the UK. Sadly manufacturing furniture in Ireland is proving difficult.

Richard Moyles, founder and managing director of Furniture.ie, scooped the award in the "Internet Entrepreneur" category at the annual Net visionary awards run by the Irish Internet Association (IIA). The winners were announced at a gala function held in the Fitzpatrick Hotel in Killiney, Dublin on November 16^th.

The home of Maud Hendricks and her family is very unique. Why? Because it doubles as the shop for Touch Wood. Each room in the house functions as a showroom and living space with most of the items available for sale. This gives people the ability to see what the furniture would be like in a "real-life" context.

Furniture.ie is pleased to announce that the number of our registered members has this week exceeded 5000. The subscription rate continues to be strong with many benefits available.

On Tuesday 27th June 2006 at 2.30pm the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, will officially open the Furniture Gallery at The Furniture College in Letterfrack. The gallery will be a showcase for the work and projects created by students of Letterfrack Furniture College.

A number of new sites have being launched in Ireland recently that target the home improvement market. A lot of them are probably aimed at the growing market expected as a result of the maturing of the SSIA saving scheme in Ireland. Some of these recently launched sites are listed here.

Kaymed, who are Europe's oldest foam producer, aims to become a significant player in the US bedding market and has begun showing at major US events, including the recent Las Vegas show. Their products have being researched and developed at the company's laboratory in Dublin. Kaymed produces its visco bedding at two major facilities in Ireland.

MFI is to leave the bathrooms and sofas business and may cut up to 370 jobs. It revealed a recovery plan after poor sales wiped out annual profits. The firm, which recently sold its French Hygena chain and secured an asset-backed £150m loan facility to help it restructure, said it made a pre-tax loss of £600,000 before exceptional items for the year to December 24.

Homebase, one of the leading home enhancement and DIY retailers, is continuing its investment within the Republic and Northern Ireland with news that it has just launched a brand new home delivery service for its extensive range of kitchen and bathrooms. With an expansion plan of 15 new stores a year for the next four years across the UK and Republic of Ireland, the home delivery service was considered a vital next step in ensuring Homebase could support the new store programme and increased customer demand as well as offer its customers an added value service within the marketplace.

Ian Green and Edward Klempka of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP were appointed joint administrators of Stag Furniture (UK) Limited on 14 February 2006. Stag Furniture, based in Sunderland, with 556 employees, is the UK's largest manufacturer and supplier of assembled cabinet furniture. The company's main customers are mail order companies. They also sell to independent and multiple retail channels.

IKEA have stopped the sale of a bed named Minnen pending a police investigation of an accident in Great Britain, which claimed the life of a young Nottinghamshire girl. IKEA said it had withdrawn the Minnen bed frame from sale and was co-operating with an investigation. IKEA have responded well to this freak accident as it is something that could happen with lots of bed designs.

* Please note: Furniture.ie is not authorised to represent, approved or endorsed by IKEA and is not associated with IKEA.

The Sleep Council is undertaking research into the link between getting wed and a new bed! To do so we're anxious to hear from people who have been married two, three or more times. There's a romantic weekend for two in Paris to be won - everyone taking part will be entered into our free prize draw.

Survey closes midnight April 30 2006.

http://www.sleepcouncil.com.

Ireland's furniture marketplace, Furniture.ie has achieved a number of key milestones in the development of their interiors portal. They have achieved their target of over 40,000 visitors in January 2006. Furniture.ie are also pleased to announce that Habitat Ireland have agreed to promote their entire range of furniture, shops and special offers online using Furniture.ie.