Natuzzi launches a procedure for a negotiated settlement of the crisis

The decision has been formalised: Natuzzi is initiating the process of negotiated settlement of the crisis. In the meantime, the leading company in the Apulian sofa manufacturing district is temporarily relocating to Romania the production of the ranges that had been brought back to Italia from China; it is suspending operations at the Iesce 2 plant – which is due to close according to the company’s plans – and will also halt operations at the Graviscella and Ps Santeramo plants from the second half of 2026, for the time being. On 24 June, the trade unions announced to the workers, a protocol prepared by the Government will be presented, which ‘should take into account – as stated in the note – the needs expressed by the company and the guarantees of job stability and the relaunch of production in Italia requested by the trade unions’.

As reported by Il Sole 24 Ore in mid-May, the decision to utilise the scheme designed to support companies in difficulty goes hand in hand with the decision to seek an investment from Invitalia: due diligence has already begun. Natuzzi is aiming for a 12-month restructuring plan, “aimed at restoring the company’s financial position,” they explain in a statement, “and re-establishing a sustainable economic and operational balance.” The formalisation of the start of the negotiated settlement procedure comes almost a month after the conclusion of complex trade union negotiations to raise the average redundancy pay to 62% – following an initial proposal of 80% – and to encourage voluntary redundancies, with a budget of six million euros. Now, the headquarters in Santeramo have announced that the redundancy programme is aimed at a maximum of 120 people: initially, 476 redundancies had been announced.

Alongside these measures, aimed at containing losses, the group – as emerged from the meeting – is committed to a ‘thorough review of its operational, organisational and industrial model’. The group is burdened by losses of almost 30%, as already indicated in the report to the SEC, the US stock market regulator where Natuzzi is listed: €298 million in turnover in 2025, representing a decline of 27.3% compared to €410.8 million in 2018. ‘In terms of margins, operating losses,’ they write, ‘have doubled over the last three years, reaching -19.4 million in 2025’. In Romania, as feared by the trade unions, production of the lower-to-mid-range products that were in China until 18 months ago is being relocated, albeit temporarily according to the announcement. All these measures, according to the group, are necessary to “halt the losses, allowing for the gradual phasing out of redundancy schemes whilst ensuring the company’s operational continuity”. From there, they hope to launch a recovery phase.