MILAN — Upscale French furniture maker Roche Bobois reported Thursday that its first-half revenue fell 7.8 percent to 204.4 million euros. In a statement, the company said while its home market sales in France remained stable, sales generated in top markets like the U.S., Canada and in Europe (excluding France) slid 6.6 percent and 6.7 percent respectively in the second quarter of the year, versus the same period a year earlier. The company remained confident on improved performance for the rest of 2024.
“Roche Bobois SA confirmed the anticipated return to growth in revenue in the second half, leveraging a still-solid portfolio of orders… providing clear visibility for the months ahead. For the whole of 2024, Roche Bobois confirms its target of generating full-year revenue equivalent, or even slightly exceeding the record of 2023,” it said. The firm’s 2023 sales amounted to 429.6 million euros.
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Retail sales across all brands, including franchises, fell 3.6 percent to 299.8 million euros compared with 311.1 million in the first half.
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Earlier this month, Roche Bobois management told WWD that interest rates in Europe and the U.S. are, or appear to be soon, heading down and expects that 2025 should be better than 2024.
“Inflation is coming down. The guidance is that interest rates should closely follow. And the lowering of interest rates is going to give a lot of oxygen to our business. The U.S. market is recovering and stabilizing and the European Union and France are slightly up,” Martin Gleize, the company’s international director, told WWD.
Roche Bobois’ home market, France, saw its economy rise a better than expected 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2024, statistics office INSEE, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, reported in April. The institute expects 1.1 percent gross domestic product growth in 2024, helped by the Summer Olympics in Paris.
Outside of its top markets, the U.S. and France, Roche Bobois is fortifying its position in the Chinese market in order to better tap into the growth potential of the world’s second-largest economy. As a single market, China teeters between Roche Bobois‘ third and fifth top markets. “The goal is for it to be top three,” he said.
Also earlier this month, Roche Bobois Group said it will acquire a 51 percent interest in Shanghai Rock Castle Furniture, its lucrative franchisee in China. The local franchisee currently directly operates two Roche Bobois stores in Shanghai and one in Beijing, and manages 25 franchised stores located in various midsized cities.
Roche Bobois is a French family business that was founded by François Roche in Paris in 1960. The group is present in 54 countries and has a network of 340 directly operated stores and franchises. It has two brands: Roche Bobois, which caters to high-end customers, and Cuir Center, positioned in the mid-range market segment.