Glasgow indy acted early to mitigate recession; Turnover slips just 5%

22nd December 2009 | independents | One of Scotland's highest regarded independent furniture retailers has slipped to a loss after implementing a series of cost cutting measures designed to minimise the impact of the economic downturn.

Forrest Furnishing, based in Glasgow, which began the financial year (ending Jan '09) spending money on a refurb of its MacDonald Galleries showroom, underwent two rounds of job cuts when it 'realised the severity of the downturn.'

Despite this, turnover almost matched the prior year. It fell just 5% to £9.9m. Operating profits fell from £0.1m in the year to Jan 2008, to a £0.4m loss this year.

Its best return since in the past six years came in 2005, when it made an operating return of £0.54m from £12.64m sales.

In the firm's annual director's report, bosses say sales are ahead of target and that without the exceptional costs of last year, it expects to return to profit.