DFS (furniture retailer)

Last updated

DFS Furniture plc
dfs
Formerly
  • Diamond Holdco 1 Limited (2010–2015)
  • DFS Furniture Limited (3–18 February 2015) [1]
Company type Public limited company
LSE:  DFS
ISIN GB00BTC0LB89
Industry Retail
Founded1969 in Doncaster
Founder Graham Kirkham
HeadquartersDoncaster, United Kingdom
Area served
  • United Kingdom
  • Republic of Ireland
Key people
[2]
Products Furniture
RevenueDecrease2.svg £1,423.6 million (2023) [3]
Decrease2.svg £63.3 million (2023) [3]
Decrease2.svg £26.2 million (2023) [3]
Website dfs.co.uk
dfs.ie

DFS Furniture plc, trading as dfs, is a furniture retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland specialising in sofas and soft furnishings. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Contents

History

Northern Upholstery

In 1969, aged 22, Graham Kirkham was married with two children, which he describes as great motivation. [4]

Having visited a few manufacturers in his daily work, he decided that making furniture was relatively easy and that by cutting out the warehouse dealers in the middle of the supply chain, he could sell direct to the public at lower prices. Kirkham rented a room above a snooker hall in Carcroft, and started making furniture upstairs and retailing it downstairs, calling the business Northern Upholstery. [4]

DFS

DFS, Wetherby (formerly Northern Upholstery) on the Thorp Arch Trading Estate, West Yorkshire DFS Wetherby Cropped.jpg
DFS, Wetherby (formerly Northern Upholstery) on the Thorp Arch Trading Estate, West Yorkshire

In 1983, Kirkham purchased the business and the name of the Darley Dale based DFS ("Direct Furnishing Supplies") Limited, founded by the Hardy Family in 1969. [5] Northern Upholstery was renamed DFS (although some branches of Northern Upholstery in Yorkshire retained their original name until the mid-1990s) and at the time, had a total of sixty three stores, employing 2,000 staff. [4]

In 1993, DFS was floated on the stock market as DFS Furniture Company plc and valued at £271 million. [6]

This brought the Kirkham family to the attention of thieves, who in 1994, broke into the family home at Sprotbrough while they were on holiday. The burglars bound and gagged the housekeeper and made off with money and jewels worth £2.4 million, later recovered, but still South Yorkshire's largest armed robbery. [4]

In 1998, DFS announced its first drop in profits in twenty eight years to the London Stock Exchange. The company reworked its advertising to feature younger models, and in 2000, DFS announced a 79 per cent profit increase. [4] But the revival was short lived, and in light of the continuing prevalence for private equity, Kirkham took the chain private again in 2004, leveraging his family's own 9.46% stake with £150 million of family funds [7] in an eventual £496 million deal. [8] [9]

DFS acquired the furniture businesses of Wyefield Group for £1.5 million in June 1999. [10]

Kirkham told the Yorkshire Post : "It's something that's caused me fitful sleep in the time I've been thinking about it. I've no hobby, this is my hobby – it's what I do. I'm an entrepreneur. It's almost as if I can feel the adrenaline running through my veins." [11] On 3 April 2010, it was announced that DFS had been sold to private equity firm Advent International for a reported £500 million. [12]

DFS then acquired its smaller rival, Sofa Workshop, in November 2013. [13]

The company went on to buy Dwell, another competitor which was struggling in the market, in August 2014. [14] [15]

On 6 March 2015, the company floated on the London Stock Exchange again as DFS Furniture plc. [16]

In October 2017, DFS announced they had purchased one of its competitors, Sofology (formerly Sofaworks and CSL) in a £25 million deal. The acquisition was ratified by the Competition and Markets Authority in November 2017. [17]

As of 2024, DFS has ceased trading in Spain. [18]

Marketing

The company has been noted for its sales tactics, which involve attempts to sell added extras to customers. Despite these aggressive marketing strategies, the quality of their products is considered by a joinery expert, Roger Galpin, to be of "fairly robust construction." [19]

For many years in the 1980s and 1990s, actor Tom Adams was the face of DFS's television advertisements. [20]

In December 2008, one television commercial by DFS was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, following complaints that the company had doctored the footage to inflate the perceived size of their sofas, relative to the actors. [21] The advert featured actors miming Nickelback's "Rockstar", while playing air guitar in front of the sofas. [22]

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References

  1. ↑ "DFS Furniture PLC overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". Companies House . 27 April 2010. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  2. ↑ Jahshan, Elias (22 May 2018). "DFS promotes Tim Stacey to CEO as Ian Filby steps down". Retail Gazette. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "Preliminary Results 2023" (PDF). DFS. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Sofa king sitting pretty on £315m pile". The Star. 22 October 2002. Archived from the original on 31 October 2002. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Darley Dale, The Warney Mill Estate". The Andrews Pages Picture Gallery: Derbyshire. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  6. ↑ "Nick Bubb's verdict: Does DFS stand for Dull Furniture Sale?". Retail Week. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2024. Back in 1993 DFS was floated on the stock market (valued at £271m)
  7. ↑ "Increased and final offer". InvestEgate. Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "Outlook: Just say no to Kirkham's insulting DFS bid". Independent, The (London). 6 October 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "World Business Briefing". The New York Times. 23 July 2004.
  10. ↑ "Orchard Furniture To Sell Assets for GBP1.5M". Factiva. Dow Jones. 15 June 1999.
  11. ↑ "Latest News and Features: Famous Doncastrian: Graham Kirkham". Donny Online. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  12. ↑ "DFS sofa chain sold to private equity firm". BBC News. 23 April 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "DFS acquires Sofa Workshop". DIY Week. 5 November 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  14. ↑ Blitz, Roger (20 August 2014). "DFS buys smaller furniture chain Dwell". FT. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  15. ↑ "DFS Acquires Aspirational Brand". Retail Week. 1 November 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  16. ↑ "Furniture chain DFS returns to stock market". BBC News. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "DFS completes acquisition of Sofology". 20 November 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  18. ↑ "DFS Spain | we are currently offline". maintenance.dfsgroup.co.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
  19. ↑ "DFS Sales Tactics". BBC. BBC. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  20. ↑ "Tom Adams - obituary". The Telegraph. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  21. ↑ "DFS Nickelback ad banned for overplaying sofa size". The Guardian. 3 December 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  22. ↑ "Advert banned for inflated sofas". BBC. 3 December 2008. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
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