Whether you’re a wannabe interior designer or more of a Swedish flatpack furniture kind of decorator (there’s no reason why you can’t be both), there’s no doubt that furniture is pretty integral to our daily lives. This doesn’t necessarily make these stocks defensive, as people are less likely to buy new furniture during recession, deciding that they can probably make do with the sofa that the cat mistook for a scratching post for a little longer. Here are some furniture stocks and how you can invest in them.
Furniture stocks are the shares of companies that design, manufacture and sell furniture and other homeware products. This includes furniture for the home, office furniture, furniture for places like hospital waiting rooms, restaurants and cafes and home furnishings.
If you want to invest in furniture stocks that you recognise from the high street, or companies that you have purchased your own furniture from, then you might be considering some UK furniture stocks. These are companies that are listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Victoria is a flooring company, so it only just fits into the furniture and home furnishings category. Victoria owns several brands, including Abingdon Flooring, Duralay and Victoria Carpets. In its Half-Year trading update in October 2021, the company announced that its pre-tax profits would be ahead of expectations for the financial year ending April 2022.
DFS is a leading furniture retailer in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland. It specialises in sofas and other soft furnishings. DFS also owns Sofa Workshop, Dwell and Sofology. You’ll often find DFS stores in retail parks, and it’s notorious for always having a sale on.
There are a number of furniture companies worldwide that you’re able to invest in, many of which that you’ll likely be familiar with. Some of these companies also operate in the UK.
Wayfair is an American e-commerce furniture and home furnishings business that operates in the UK, US, Canada, Germany and Ireland. Wayfair has been operating since 2002, formerly known as CSN stores. It also operates Joss & Main, AllModern, Birch Lane and Perigold.
La-Z-Boy is a furniture manufacturer in the US. It’s known for its recliners, but also makes sofas, stationary chairs, lift chairs and sofabeds. Fans of Friends will know of La-Z-Boys from the series, with the iconic recliners initially being introduced in The One Where Ross And Rachel… You Know.
Bassett Furniture Industries is a US-based furniture company — it was founded in 1902 and has 100 retail locations in the US and Puerto Rico. Bassett Furniture is known for paying dividends quite regularly and consistently, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll pay dividends in the future.
During the coronavirus pandemic, many people opted to use the additional time at home to re-decorate and re-furnish. In 2020, furniture company Wayfair reported its net revenue to be $14,145 million, a rise of 54% on the previous year. UK households purchased around £14.4 billion worth of furniture and home furnishings.
Despite furniture being considered to be an essential item, it’s not a defensive stock. Typically, if people already have the furniture they need and not enough money to upgrade it or re-furnish their homes to their taste, they’ll wait it out until they’ve got the money. Typically this will fall during recessions for many people – so you might see very little or no growth in these times.
All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.
If you want to put some furniture stocks on the table, it’s pretty easy to get started as there are a huge number of stocks available to invest in, not just the ones we’ve mentioned above. You might think we’ve missed a trick in the shape of a Swedish flatpack furniture store, but IKEA is privately held, so you can’t currently purchase shares in the company.
| Response | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Coins | 10.33% | 4.8% |
| Jewellery | 8.41% | 7.76% |
| Cars | 7.84% | 4.7% |
| Watches | 7.07% | 3.68% |
| Whisky | 6.98% | 2.66% |
| Diamonds | 6.79% | 3.06% |
| Stamps | 6.69% | 4.19% |
| Art | 6.5% | 3.98% |
| Wine | 4.78% | 3.27% |
| Trading cards | 4.49% | 2.45% |
| Antique furniture | 4.3% | 2.96% |
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