Questions are being asked in the trade about whether Magnet‘s prospective new owner will want to keep the firm’s joinery business. The company itself says it is too early to say what Swedish kitchen manufacturer Nobia‘s precise plans are for the business, but that there are no signs it wants to split the operation.
Nobia is planning to buy Magnet from current parent Enodis plc in a deal worth £134m (TTJ April 28). The acquisition is subject to shareholder approval and a ruling
by European competition authorities, with the latter expected in June.
Because Nobia’s core interest is in kitchens (it has factories serving the sector in Sweden, Norway, Denmark Finland and Germany, with brands including Poggenpohl) speculation has arisen that it may dispose of Magnet’s joinery operations.
‘It would seem not to fit with Nobia as a whole,’ said one trade source. ‘And it would make a viable joinery business in its own right.’
A Magnet spokesperson would not comment directly on ‘speculation’, but said the company’s kitchen and joinery activities were ‘integrated’.
‘Our 227 sales outlets are also dual purpose, serving both trade and retail customers,’ he said.
Magnet has factories in Keighley, Penrith, Darlington and Flint.
Nobia is also buying the CP Hart bathrooms business.
