MFI Retail
MFI Group Limited was a British furniture retailer, operating under the MFI brand. The company was one of the largest suppliers of kitchens and bedroom furniture in the United Kingdom, and operated mainly in retail parks in out of town locations. Anecdotally, it was said at one stage that one in three Sunday lunches in the United Kingdom were cooked in a kitchen from MFI, and 60% of British children were conceived in a bedroom from MFI. After success in its early decades, it experienced recurring financial problems accompanied by several changes of ownership, and on 26 November 2008, it was announced that the business had been placed into administration. Merchant Equity Partners, headed by Henry Jackson, was the last company to own it, before it was sold to the management in September 2008 for a "small profit". The business ceased trading by 19 December 2008, after the administrators failed to find a buyer. It struggled to make profits during the 2000s, as chains such as B& ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Private Limited Company
A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include the '' LLC'' in the United States, ''private company limited by shares'' in the United Kingdom, '' GmbH'' in Germany and Austria, ''société à responsabilité limitée'' in France, and ''sociedad de responsabilidad limitada'' in the Spanish-speaking world. The benefit of having a private limited company is that there is limited liability. However, shares can only be sold to shareholders in the business, which means that it can be difficult to liquidate such a company. Abbreviations Albania In Albania a limited liability company ( sq, Shoqëri me përgjegjësi të kufizuar Sh.p.k) is a commercial company founded by persons of physical or judicial status, who are not liable for the company and personally bear losses only up to the outstanding contribution agreeme ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridgetunnel across the Öresund. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic country, the third-largest country in the European Union, and the fifth-largest country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Stockholm. Sweden has a total population of 10.5 million, and a low population density of , with around 87% of Swedes residing in urban areas in the central and southern half of the country. Sweden has a nature dominated by forests and a large amount of lakes, including some of the largest in Europe. Many long rivers run from the Scandes range through the landscape, primarily ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean world, the Roman Empire (Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire), and medieval "Christendom" (Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity). Beginning with the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery, roughly from the 15th century, the concept of ''Europe'' as "the West" slowly became distinguished from and eventually replaced the dominant use of "Christendom" as the preferred endonym within the region. By the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, the concepts of "Eastern Europe" and "Western Europe" were more regularly used. Historical divisions Classical antiquity and medieval origins Prior to the Roman conquest, a large part of Western Europe had adopted the newly developed La Tène culture. As the Roman domain ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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West Midlands (county)
West Midlands is a metropolitan county in the West Midlands Region, England, with a 2021 population of 2,919,600, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county is a NUTS 2 region within the wider NUTS 1 region of the same name. It embraces seven metropolitan boroughs: the cities of Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, and the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall. The county is overseen by the West Midlands Combined Authority, which covers all seven boroughs and other non-constituent councils, on economy, transport and housing. Status The metropolitan county exists in law, as a geographical frame of reference, and as a ceremonial county. As such it has a Lord Lieutenant. and a High Sheriff. Between 1974 and 1986, the West Midlands County Council was the administrative body covering the county; t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brierley Hill
Brierley Hill is a town and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England, 2.5 miles south of Dudley and 2 miles north of Stourbridge. Part of the Black Country and in a heavily industrialised area, it has a population of 13,935 at the 2011 census. It is best known for glass and steel manufacturing, although industry has declined considerably since the 1970s. One of the largest factories in the area was the Round Oak Steelworks, which closed down and was redeveloped in the 1980s to become the Merry Hill Shopping Centre. Brierley Hill was originally in Staffordshire. Since 2008, Brierley Hill has been designated as the Strategic Town Centre of the Dudley Borough. History The name Brierley Hill derives from the Old English words 'brer', meaning the place where the Briar Rose grew; 'leah', meaning a woodland clearing; and 'hill'. Largely a product of the Industrial Revolution, Brierley Hill has a relatively recent history, with the first written ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Merry Hill Shopping Centre
Merry Hill (formerly Westfield Merry Hill and The Merry Hill Shopping Centre) is a large shopping complex in Brierley Hill near Dudley, England. It was developed between 1985 and 1990, with several subsequent expansion and renovation projects. The centre is anchored by Marks & Spencer, Primark, Asda, Next and formerly Debenhams. The centre has over 200 shops, a retail park, cinema, food hall and ten-thousand parking spaces. Adjacent to the main shopping mall is a marina called The Waterfront accommodating a number of bars, restaurants, the studios of Black Country Radio, and the Headquarters and Control Room of West Midlands Ambulance Service. The Dudley No.1 Canal passes through The Waterfront and along the edge of the shopping centre before descending to Delph Locks. The centre's original developers and owners were Richardson Developments but it has had a number of other owners including Chelsfield, Mountleigh, Westfield Group and Intu Properties. Merry Hill is curren ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Schreiber Furniture
Schreiber was a brand of fitted kitchen and furniture operating in the United Kingdom. Started in 1957 by Chaim Schreiber to make furniture, Schreiber became an extremely successful brand in furniture from the 1960s to the early 1970s, challenging both Harris Lebus and Gomme for domination. In the 1970s it became vertically integrated by opening its own furniture centres. The company merged with GEC in the 1970s. Schreiber was later bought out by the MFI Group, and on MFI's bankruptcy in 2008, the brand rights were bought by the Home Retail Group in 2009. In 2016, the Home Retail Group was purchased by the UK retailer Sainsbury's, who quietly dropped the Schreiber brand the following year in 2017. History Early years In 1957, Chaim Schreiber, a Polish refugee immigrant who made radio cabinets for Dansette and other larger electrical manufacturers, bought the bankrupt furniture business Lubetkin and re-branded it under his own name, Schreiber. Expansion Schreiber was hugely ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Management Buy-out
A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1980s business economics. These so-called MBOs originated in the US, spreading first to the UK and then throughout the rest of Europe. The venture capital industry has played a crucial role in the development of buyouts in Europe, especially in smaller deals in the UK, the Netherlands, and France. Overview Management buyouts are similar in all major legal aspects to any other acquisition of a company. The particular nature of the MBO lies in the position of the buyers as managers of the company and the practical consequences that follow from that. In particular, the due diligence process is likely to be limited as the buyers already have full knowledge of the company available to them. The seller is also unlikely to give any but the most ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Asda
Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorkshire. It expanded into Southern England during the 1970s and 1980s, and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway Supermarkets and other businesses, such as MFI Group. It sold these acquisitions during the 1990s to concentrate on the supermarkets. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 1999 when it was acquired by Walmart for £6.7 billion. Asda was the second-largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2014 by market share, at which point it fell into third place. Besides its core supermarkets, the company also offers assistance for insurance and payment services and a mobile phone provider. In February 2021, the Issa brothers (Mohsin and Zuber) and TDR Capital acquired Asda. Walmart retains "an equi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Malcolm Healey
Malcolm Stanley Healey (born June 1944) is a British entrepreneur. Career Healey began his career in his family's paint company. In 1982 MFI Group and Healey's company, Humber Kitchens,The Independent (1999)Corporate Profile: MFI - Step one: pick up the pieces The Independent, 22 December 1999. bought Hygena a kitchen and furniture retail company, from Norcros who were looking to dissolve the company and sell the Hygena name. MFI took full control of Hygena in 1987, buying Healey out for £200 million. In 2009, he founded Wren Living, now known as Wren Kitchens, a kitchen manufacturing and retail company which as of the beginning of 2019 had 82 showrooms across the UK, with an annual turnover in 2018 of £490 million. As of 2020, Healey's West Retail Group also owned the online electronics retailer Ebuyer. In 2019, Healey donated £250,000 to the Conservative Party two weeks after its leader Boris Johnson became Prime Minister. He has donated £2,210,000 to the Conservative P ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hygena
Hygena is a dormant brand of fitted kitchen and furniture in the United Kingdom. Started in Liverpool in 1925 to make Hoosier cabinets, it was bought by new investors in 1938, who after the war built modular kitchens for the new British post-war temporary prefab houses. With the introduction of design concepts based on the Frankfurt kitchen and new materials such as formica, Hygena became the dominant brand in kitchens from the 1960s through the 1970s. But mass manufacture and a change in styles meant that it ended up as an economy brand in the UK, bought out in the 1987 by the MFI Group. MFI sold the mainland European rights to the brand to Nobia in 2006, who on MFI's bankruptcy two years later also bought the global brand rights. However, the UK and Irish rights were bought by the Home Retail Group in 2009. Nobia sold the international rights to the brand to Groupe Fournier in 2015, who replaced it with its own SoCoo'c brand over the next 18 months. In 2016, the Home Ret ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |