Italian furniture group Natuzzi saw sales grow by +23.1% in Q1, thanks to a robust order backlog. The Italian business' positive momentum has continued through the first 18 weeks of the year, surpassing comparatives in 2019 and 2020, the brand states.
Earlier in the month Natuzzi's board approved new governance, to "accelerate growth momentum and strengthen Natuzzi’s competitive positioning in the global design and affordable luxury furniture market", appointing Antonio Achille as CEO (effective from today). As executive chairman, Pasquale Natuzzi will reportedly focus on long-term strategies, while being "strongly committed" to the company's success.
Pasquale comments: “We are pleased to see that the continued effort to navigate through these challenging times has started to translate into positive results. Q1 revenues improved sequentially. We are also encouraged by the double-digit increase of our first 18 weeks written orders versus the same period of 2020, and single-digit improvement versus 2019. The demand-driven momentum, that has started in the second part of last year, continues, with our branded business growing at double-digit, and all main geographies, mainly USA and China, reporting written sales above pre-pandemic level.
In terms of invoiced sales, Natuzzi saw sales grow by +5.9% in western and southern Europe in Q1, while written orders for the first 18 weeks of 2021 were up +26.6% YoY (but down -16.9% Yo2Y).
