Ikea’s annual profit almost halved to the second-lowest level in at least a decade as the flat-pack furniture pioneer warned that trade barriers from US president-elect Donald Trump would hurt its push to cut prices.
Net profit at Ingka Group, the main Ikea retailer that runs 90 per cent of the group’s stores, fell from €1.5bn to €806mn in the year to August due to a campaign to shield consumers from higher inflation, as well as the cost of its exit from Russia.
The privately held retailer, based in the Netherlands and owned by a Dutch charitable foundation, sold 14 Mega shopping centres to Gazprombank last year, but declined to specify the price or the hit to profits. It spent €2.1bn cutting prices in a bid to improve the affordability of its products, leading to a 5 per cent drop in revenue to €41.9bn.