Design Holding changes name. Flos B&B Italia Group is born

The main objective is 'to clarify and strengthen our identity'. Daniel Lalonde, CEO of Italy's largest high-end furniture group, which until yesterday was called Design Holding and now takes the name Flos B&B Italia Group, thus explains the reason behind the rebranding of the company, jointly controlled by the international private equity funds Investindustrial and Carlyle, which includes in its portfolio, in addition to Flos and B&B Italia, also Louis Poulsen, Maxalto, Arclinea, Azucena, Fendi Casa, Audo Copenhagen and Lumens.

"The idea of changing the name of our reality matured over the past year," explains the ceo. "The name under which we were born as a group in 2018 has accompanied our development so far, but now we felt the need to adopt a more specific name, capable of immediately identifying the sector and industry in which our companies operate, namely the world of high-end designer furniture and lighting, when we address our stakeholders: designers, architects, retailers, the financial community and journalists. The choice was to anchor the corporate identity to that of the two best-known brands, following in the footsteps of what some large luxury groups do, especially in fashion.

A choice that intends to "strengthen the group's identity within the high-end design industry, directly linking the company name to the two founding and most internationally known brands, Flos and B&B Italia, while preserving the group's identity values and strategic vision," specifies Lalonde, who also emphasises the choice of the term "Group" in place of "Holding", underlining the importance, prestige and complementarity of all nine brands that make up the portfolio and appear in the new logo. "They are all important and different, each with its own identity, its own heritage, its own DNA and its own management team," Lalonde points out. Together they share the group's common values, mission and objectives, namely a vocation for innovation and the desire to create beauty through design,' as the group's claim 'We design for a beautiful Life' states.

This does not therefore change the strategy of the group, which aims to be one of the leading companies, internationally, in the "high-end design" segment, and which is already the largest company in Italy in terms of size: in 2023, Flos B&B Italia Group achieved revenues at GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) of €898.6 million, down 6.7% compared to 2022 at constant exchange rates (but the contraction is reduced to 3% if the Northern European markets, which have been particularly affected by the crisis, are excluded), after two years of strong growth, with turnover increasing by 25.8% in 2022 compared to 2021 and 28.9% in 2021 compared to 2020. Ebitda 2023 stood at EUR 193 million, or 24.6% of sales, and the value of the e-commerce channel (excluding Lumens) grew by 14% compared to 2022.

The development strategy based on four pillars is therefore confirmed: brand strengthening; geographical expansion, particularly in North America, China and the Middle East; development of a direct-to-consumer strategy; and growth in the high-end contract segment. The business plan envisages organic growth of the companies in the portfolio, but also growth through acquisitions. "There are no operations being finalised at the moment, but we are constantly on the lookout for new opportunities," the CEO points out. "We are looking at companies with a turnover of around EUR 50-70 million, or even slightly larger, complementary to our brand portfolio, positioned in the high-end segment of the market and financially sound. Our goal is to grow these companies, together with all our brands, through our common platform of digital infrastructure, distribution channels and contract projects.