September 26 (SeeNews) - The Romanian arm of Sweden's IKEA, the world's largest furniture retailer, said on Thursday its sales grew by around 15% to 160 million euro ($175 million) in the fiscal year ending August 31, value added tax excluded.
The share of online sales in total turnover amounts to almost 25%, which places Romania in the leading position within the Ingka Group, followed by Croatia with 20.1% and the United Kingdom with 18.2%, Ikea Romania said in a press release.
"We are very pleased with our performance in Romania and proud that it has continued to be one of the fastest growing markets. We opened Pallady, the largest IKEA store in Southeastern Europe, as well as four collection centers throughout the country, ending the fiscal year with a total of 1,344 employees, which represents a 20.4% increase compared to the previous one. We will continue to invest in our people, as well as in new formats, to make IKEA even more convenient, accessible and sustainable for even more people in Romania," IKEA SEE country retail manager Sara Del Fabbro said.
Out of the more than 20 million IKEA products sold locally in the fiscal year 2019, some 62% were furniture items, while 38% were accessories.
At end-June, IKEA opened its second store in Romania, following a 90 million euro investment.
The 37,000 sq m store is located in the eastern part of Romania's capital and employs around 600 people. IKEA previously had only one store in Romania, located in northern Bucharest.
Earlier this month, Ingka Group, the parent company of IKEA, has signed an agreement to buy an 80% stake in seven Romanian wind farms from Danish wind turbine maker Vestas for 136 million euro.
($=0.9148 euro)