SWEDISH furniture giant Ikea saw a five-fold increase in net profit for its full-year 2023, which ended in August, boosted by rising sales, Ingka Group which owns most Ikea franchises said today. 

Ingka’s net profit was €1.5 billion (RM7.67 billion) for the year, up from €300 million in 2022 when earnings were hit by its pullout from the Russian market over the war in Ukraine.

Ingka called it a “good performance”, despite the fact that “economic instability, geopolitical volatility, and the continued after-effects of the pandemic made for challenging moments in 2023.”

Operating profit was stable, while Ingka’s sales rose by 5.4% to €44.3 billion.

Ingka accounted for more than 90% of Ikea’s sales, which totalled €47.6 billion this tear.

The retailer announced last month that it had begun lowering its prices on thousands of items in September to stem two years of falling sales volumes attributed to soaring inflation.

Ingka said today it would pay out €311 million in performance-based bonuses to its employees and €103 million to its complementary pension fund for employees with more than five years seniority.

The company said it was committed to further reducing the staff turnover rate that rose during the Covid pandemic.

“We had a 21.4% staff turnover rate before and now we’re down to approximately 18%,” head of human resources Ulrika Biesert told AFP. – AFP, November 29, 2023.