Ikea sees annual sales grow

Sweden’s Ikea, seen as a good gauge of global consumption due to its vast footprint, said some of the strongest growth was in Russia and China, and there was also significant progress in North America during the past year.

“While southern Europe continued being affected by the current economic situation, the Ikea Group continued gaining market shares in almost all markets,” Ikea said in a statement.

In the 12 month period ended August 31, Ikea sales rose to 27.9 billion euros, the company said. Sales in comparable stores grew 1.8 per cent in the same period, it added.

The sales figures were released separately with the full earnings report due in January next year.

Privately held Ikea, famous for its self-build flat packs and huge stores, last year set a target to double sales to around 50 billion euros by 2020.

There are currently 303 Ikea group stores globally, which were visited by 690 million people in the year. Ikea, whic has a store in Leeds and is planning to open one in Sheffield, employs 139,000 people.