French furniture business Roche Bobois has reported a growth in second quarter and half year sales.

According to its latest trading update, total sales during Q2 2023 rose 6.9% to €117.7m from €110.1m against the same period last year. This growth was driven by France and the Europe region, although excluding the UK.

The United States/Canada and the UK maintained last year’s very high levels, where they posted strong growth of 50.2% and 105% respectively in these two regions.

“In Q2 2023, the UK posted solid revenues at the same high level as last year, at €6.4m versus €6.5m in Q2 2022,” the company said. “At the end of H1 2023, revenues totalled €11.7m versus €11.5m. At constant exchange rates, growth was 5.5%.”

At the end of the first half of 2023, Roche Bobois generated total revenues of €221.7m, up +9.2% from €203m.

Commenting on the results, Roche Bobois said: “Generally speaking, directly operated and owned stores posted a level of activity far better than franchised stores, thanks to their differentiated positioning (franchises tend to be located in smaller towns), as well as an active takeover strategy and their ability to revitalise their activity. Note: franchise store activity in China has been in decline since the start of the year.

“The network of directly operated and owned stores (all brands included) generated retail sales of €182.7m, a limited drop of -3.2% at current exchange rates compared with 30 June 2022 (and an increase of +8.6% compared with 30 June 2021). It should be noted that this figure takes into account the temporary closure of three strategic stores in the United States/Canada (Madison, San Francisco and Montreal), which represented sales of around €13m last year.”