French furnishings firm Roche Bobois SA has reported its half year update indicating a decline in sales and profit.

According to its latest update, and following its previous announcement back in July, in a “less buoyant” market environment for furnishings, Roche Bobois SA posted revenue of €204.4m, down -7.8%.

“Revenue could have been better without the temporary postponement of deliveries amounting to €5m in the second half, owing to a logistics delay at a supplier in Italy,” the business said.

EBITDA totalled €36.6m (-26.0% vs. H1 2023). The EBITDA margin came out to 17.9%. “Overall, current operating expenses remained under excellent control as the variable component of the cost model offset the impact of lower volumes delivered and that of the extended scope for directly-operated stores (with their profitability still gradually increasing).

“At end-August 2024, retail sales trended identically to 30 June. Directly-operated stores reported a retail sale of €236.7m, exactly the same level as that of last year. Total retail sales (franchised stores and all brands combined) came to €385.2m (-3.5% at current exchange rates).

“Against this backdrop, in the second half of this financial year, the Group will aim to step up the pace of deliveries for its order backlog, albeit without entirely offsetting the delays recorded in the first half to repeat its record revenue performance for FY 2023.

“On a full-year basis in 2024, Roche Bobois is now targeting full-year revenue of around €418m (above that achieved in FY 2022), logically weighing on EBITDA which will be down by 15-20% versus 2023.”