Deutsche Messe: Restructuring with drastic cuts

With a turnover of EUR 100 million and a loss of EUR 83 million, 2020 was the most difficult year in the history of Deutsche Messe in Hanover. As an organiser of international trade fairs (including Domotex) and events, the business has been idle for more than a year. With the "Deutsche Messe 2027" concept, a far-reaching restructuring has now been initiated that includes cuts in various areas and considerable savings in material and personnel costs.

Prices for machine-woven carpets are rising, in some cases massively

Prices are currently rising sharply in the machine-weaving sector. Carpet Home spoke to leading suppliers about the background of this development. "Prices are going crazy and are changing practically every day," several manufacturers report unanimously. The main reasons for this are the rising costs of primary products and transport, which have been going up for several months now. On top of this, there is an increasing demand for PP granulate by the plastics processing industry in general – especially in China, but also in the US.

First Slovenian Ikea store opens

Tomorrow (Thursday, 25 February) is the opening day of Slovenia's first Ikea store – this has been reported by the Austrian newspaper "Kleine Zeitung". In the first few weeks, however, only 700 people at most will be allowed in the 30,000 m2 sales area. Due to the pandemic, it is also necessary to register online beforehand. The Ikea shop is located in a shopping district of Slovenia's capital Ljubljana; 90 million euros are said to have been invested in the location.

Carpet Magazine is now Carpet Home

In the first weeks of the year, we invested a lot of time and energy in optimising our trade magazine. Under the name Carpet Home, the former Carpet Magazine is now published in a new layout with identical content in a purely English- and a purely German-language version.

A special focus of the current issue is on the Carpet Stars 2021. This year we have again awarded the prize to exemplary specialist retailers and their concepts.

Deutsche Messe downsizes Executive Board, Dr. Gruchow leaves

Deutsche Messe in Hanover, organiser of Domotex among others, is repositioning itself after the crisis year 2020 with losses of EUR 83 million on a turnover of EUR 100 million. One major change is the reduction in the size of the executive board. Dr Jochen Köckler, who has been a member of the management body since 2012 and Chairman since 2017, will lead Deutsche Messe as sole member of the Board of Management in future. His term of office was extended ahead of schedule by five years.

Dr Andreas Gruchow, on the other hand, is leaving the Executive Board after 27 years in management positions at the company. A Deutsche Messe press release describes the separation from the experienced trade fair manager, who worked for many years at key positions in Hanover, as follows: "Thankfully, he has agreed to resign his mandate on the best of terms."

Guido Maria Kretschmer's "Deko Queen": New magazine and TV format

For some years, Guido Maria Kretschmer has successfully been searching for the "Shopping Queen", now he is also looking for the "Deko Queen": In a new Vox TV series starting in March and presented by the fashion designer, two participants will compete against each other and redecorate their homes under a given motto ("Urban Jungle", for example). To accompany this, the Hamburg-based publishing house Gruner & Jahr is publishing the lifestyle magazine "Guidos Deko Queen" with plenty of home decoration tips, also dealing with the topics of sustainable living, hospitality and beauty. The publishing house and the TV station developed the new concept in cooperation; they both belong to the Bertelsmann Group.

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Wayfair: new German logistics centre to open in May

Wayfair plans to open a new logistics centre in the German town of Lich (Hesse) in May, according to a report in the daily newspaper "Gießener Allgemeine". The online retailer for home furnishing products, headquartered in the US, aims to expand its business operations in Germany from there. The new main German distribution centre covers around 95,000 m2; the groundbreaking ceremony took place in autumn 2019. The existing Wayfair locations in Kassel and Hammersbach are to be integrated into the new logistics centre by the end of the year. According to the supplier, this measure is a reaction to the rapid growth on the European market.

Power-Heat-Set GmbH with new dual leadership

Power-Heat-Set GmbH, a specialist in textile machines for yarn finishing, is under new management: since 1 January 2021, Marcus Köhler and Kurt Frank form a dual leadership team for the Bavarian company.

Explore the Bayeux Tapestry online

For the first time, everyone interested will be able to explore the famous Bayeux Tapestry online and spot every detail, too. The 70-metre-long embroidered canvas that tells the story of the conquest of England in 1066 is kept at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandie. The museum is now showing very high-resolution images of the tapestry on its website.

Balta expects sales to drop by 16 per cent

Due to the restrictions caused by the Corona pandemic, Balta Group expects its sales to slump by 16% to EUR 562 million in 2020. In a preliminary balance sheet report, Europe's largest manufacturer of textile floor coverings also expects an EBITDA of EUR 68 million for the past financial year, which translates into a decline of 9 %. With a view to the fourth quarter of 2020, however, the group is optimistic and speaks of a significant recovery of the business situation. In this period, EBITDA improved by 41 % compared to the same period of the previous year.

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