Ikea assembles 5% increase in profits

Swedish furniture giant Ikea said Thursday its net profit rose by 5 percent in its 2014-2015 fiscal year to 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion), thanks to rising same store sales and new locations.

Sales increased by 11.2 percent to 31.9 billion euros for the company which popularised flat-pack furniture, assembled by customers themselves, although that increase fell to 8.9 percent when currency fluctuations were stripped out.

Together with rental income from its shopping centre business, total revenue increased by 11.5 percent to 32.7 billion euros in the year ending August 31.

"The biggest growth came from comparable stores, with new stores and online sales contributing to the positive result," said the Ikea Group in its annual report.

Same store sales by 5.1 percent.

Online sales broke the 1 billion euros level and the company, known for its massive stores located on the outskirts of cities, has been experimenting in other ways to reach more customers.

Ikea said it new "pick-up and order points make shopping with us more convenient for people who live far from a store or those who don?t have a car".

It opened three such points in Spain, Norway and Finland where customers to see and buy selected products as well as collect pre-ordered purchases.

Ikea Group is now a Dutch-registered company that controls 328 stores in 28 countries and it employs 155,000 people worldwide.

Ikea is still managed however from the town of Aelmhult in southern Sweden, where it was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad.

Kamprad, whose fortune is estimated at more than 30 billion euros, still has a hand in running the company, and his children are part of the management.