Steinhoff International is a South African international retail holding company that is dual listed in Germany. Steinhoff deals mainly in furniture and household goods, and operates in Europe, Africa, Asia, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
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History
Steinhoff was founded in 1964 by Bruno Steinhoff in Westerstede, Germany. Bruno Steinhoff sourced furniture from communist Europe and sold it in Western Europe. In 1997, Steinhoff acquired 35% of South-Africa-based Gommagomma, preparing for a merger the following year. The company moved its headquarters to South Africa in 1998, attracted by the low production costs, and went public on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange that same year.
In 2005, Steinhoff invested £86 million to revive the UK's Homestyle Group, thus taking ownership of the company.
In 2011, Steinhoff bought Conforama, Europe's second largest retailer of home furnishings, with over 200 stores in France, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Italy and Croatia, spending $1.2 billion for the acquisition.
In December 2015, Steinhoff International moved its primary listing to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and founded a new Dutch holding company based in Amsterdam. The management remained in South Africa.
In 2015, South African low-end retail investment and holding company Pepkor became a member of the Steinhoff International Group for $5.7 billion.
In July 2016, UK discount retail chain Poundland accepted Steinhoff's takeover offer of £597 million. Poundland accepted a higher offer from Steinhoff of £610 million in August 2016. The takeover received shareholder approval in September 2016.
In August 2016, Steinhoff announced its plan to purchase the US-based Mattress Firm for $3.8 billion. Mattress Firm, founded in 1986, has approximately 3,500 stores across 48 states with 80 distribution centres.
On 6 December 2017, Steinhoff's CEO, Markus Jooste, resigned after Steinhoff's auditors refused to sign off on the audited financials as a result of reported accounting irregularities in its accounts. Certain fraud allegations are currently being investigated in Frankfurt by the German authorities. As a result of the resignation, Steinhoff's share price plummeted.
A $1.9 billion margin loan was provided to Steinhoff by a consortium of lenders, including Japanese bank Nomura and a range of U.S. institutions. Nomura confirmed that it had booked an unrealised loss of 14 billion yen (or $128 million in 2018 dollars). The loan itself had been partly organised by Steinhoff's Chairman, Christo Wiese.
The Standing Committee on Finance of the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa has recently condemned Steinhoff's behavior. The Committee has urged the Financial Services Board (FSB), the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) to expedite their investigations and release the outcomes to the public.
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Brands
As of August 2016, Steinhoff held retailing activities in 30 countries, counting 6,500 retail outlets belonging to 40 different brands, and employing about 90,000 employees. 60% of the company's revenue, and two-thirds of its benefits, are made in Europe. Steinhoff expanded into the United States market on 7 August 2016.
Steinhoff's South African brands include Ackermans, Buco, Dunns, Flash, HiFi Corp, Incredible Connection, John Craig, Pennypinchers, Pep, Refinery, Russels, Shoe City, Tekkie Town, Timbercity and Unitrans. Powersales is another African Steinhoff brand.
In the UK, Steinhoff owns the high street brands Bensons for Beds, Cargo, Harveys Furniture, Pep&Co, Poundland and Sleepmaster.
In Ireland, Steinhoff operates Dealz and Pep&Co.
Steinhoff's European brands include Conforama, Kika, Leiner, Pepco and Poco.
In Australia and New Zealand, Steinhoff Asia Pacific Holdings operates brands including Bay Leather Republic, Best & Less, Freedom (formerly trading as Freedom Furniture), Harris Scarfe, MOZI, Postie, Snooze (a bed and bedroom furniture franchise that prior to 2006 traded as "Capt'n Snooze") and Store & Order. The acquisition of Fantastic Holdings in 2017 has proved significant to Steinhoff's growth in Australia which added Fantastic Furniture, OMF and Plush as well as additional manufacturing facilities to the group.
References
External links
Media related to Steinhoff International Holdings at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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