Kährs outlines new business plan

Wood flooring manufacturer Kährs is investing SKr100m at its Nybro factory in Sweden but will also make about 245 redundancies to counter weak market conditions.

The steps are outlined in Kährs’ new business plan, which has been approved by the board of parent company Nybron Flooring International (NFI). Kährs has also secured an interest payment holiday from lenders.

Kährs said it was convinced of the long-term growth and profit potential of the wood floors market, but expected continuous price and volume pressure in the near future.

The business plan outlines cutting a quarter of jobs at the Nybro factory, extending the product portfolio, increased marketing where there is growth potential (including emerging markets) and extended co-operation with external suppliers. The big investment at Nybro, intended to make the plant into the world’s most effective wood floor factory, is designed to improve production flow and efficiency.

“This [job reduction decision] is of course a difficult and extremely hard decision to make but, due to the circumstances we are unfortunately forced to take these drastic actions and our view is that this will in the end save 7-800 job opportunities,” said NFI chief executive officer Per Skårner.