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Summary in English

Business concept

Serving a global clientele, Lammhults Design Group’s business concept is to create positive experiences through modern interiors. Consumer insight, innovation, design management and strong brands are the cornerstones of our operations. We develop products in partnership with several of Scandinavia’s leading designers.

Brand promise

Lammhults Design Group targets conscious cosmopolitans who appreciate expressive design and innovative functionality. We will offer them sustainable interiors that strengthen their identity and make them feel secure, proud and special.

Our core values

We strive constantly to maintain our core values – to be unique, self-assured, receptive, innovative and thorough.

Strong brands

We work with a brand-led strategy. Our own brands – Lammhults, Abstracta, Voice, Ire, BCI, Eurobib Direct and Schulz Speyer – are strong and well established, retaining their individual characteristics while at the same time benefiting from an endorsement process that denotes them ‘Part of Lammhults Design Group’ is added to their names. This set-up gives us opportunities to work with our brands, both individually and in a collection-inspired manner, to meet the needs of individual customers. At the same time, it allows us to continue to exploit synergies in purchasing, production, product development and marketing.

Export potential

Lammhults Design Group has roots in Sweden but is an international group. Around 64% of our revenues come from other markets. Our products are available from San Francisco in the west to Japan in the east. We are world leaders in the library market and see good potential for expansion internationally, including in other business areas.

Relatively independent of the business cycle

Like everyone else, we are affected by fluctuations in the economy. But compared with other interiors companies, we have usually managed to cope better with economic peaks and troughs. This is because we have not put all our eggs in one basket; instead, our businesses are located in different phases of the business cycle. The Scandinavian Eyewear and Lammhults Home business areas are affected by economic fluctuations early on in the cycle, while Lammhults Office experiences these effects later on. Lammhults Library follows a different business cycle logic in many senses, since its assignments are often financed using public funds that tend to increase in slump periods through stimulation packages.

Robust finances

We want to grow. In order to be able to make the acquisitions we want to make at the right time, it is important to always have robust finances. Our finances are naturally always governed by customers continuing to demand our products. We also make great efforts to constantly streamline our work, identify Group-wide synergies and increase the proportion of components purchased from low-cost countries. Constant cost control is a key component of maintaining profitability, even in periods of economic decline. We also strive to increase flexibility by, for example, letting sub-contractors take responsibility for parts of the finishing work.

The financial goals of Lammhults Design Group over a business cycle

• Average annual growth of at least 15%
• An average annual operating margin of at least 10%
• Return of at least 20% on capital employed
• An equity ratio of at least 35%
• A debt ratio of between 0.7 and 1.0
• Dividend payout ratio of approximately 40% of earnings after tax, taking into account the Group’s longterm capital requirements.

The financial crisis and recession led to a decline in demand for the Group’s products, which, compared to the previous year, resulted in a drop in order volumes of around 20% during the period of April – mid-June. A number of measures were taken at that time to adapt costs to the deteriorated market situation, which during the second half of the year resulted in cost cuts of around SEK 15 million compared to the previous year. The Group’s financial position is strong, with an equity/assets ratio of 52.4% (50.0) and a debt/equity ratio of 0.47% (0.46) as per 31 December 2009. Our financial position therefore continues to allow scope for acquisitions without departing from the Group’s financial goals for equity/assets ratio and debt/equity ratio.

Download our latest annual report as PDF

Significant initiatives in 2009

The following is a selection of strategic initiatives that Lammhults Design Group implemented in 2009.

Acquisition of Belgian Schulz Benelux and Dutch NBLC Systemen. Through these two strategic acquisitions, Lammhults Library will significantly boost its position in the Benelux region, achieve annual sales of around SEK 50 million and become a market leader in this important library market.

A decision was made during the second quarter to make cost cuts of around SEK 15 million effective as of the second half of the year.

Lammhults Office received its biggest order to date, worth SEK 10 million, from the 5-star Point Hotel Barbaros in Istanbul, Turkey.

Lammhults Library received its single biggest library order to date in the Kuwaiti Ministry for Education’s order for interiors for 144 school libraries, worth SEK 15 million in total.

The Norwegian Parliament ordered interiors from Lammhults Home for 100 overnight rooms following comprehensive restoration.

Scandinavian Eyewear signed licensing agreements for manufacturing spectacle frames for three Scandinavian brands: Lexington, Oscar Jacobson and Pilgrim.