The sale of the loss-making MFI furniture chain cost £187m in write-offs, owner Galiform revealed today.
The 200-store business, Britain’s biggest furniture retailer, was sold to the private equity firm Merchant Equity Partners last September for a nominal £1, following mounting losses.
Galiform also paid a “dowry” of £126m, including £52m paid by customers as deposits for their orders, to rid itself of the MFI business.
But shares in Galiform, which owns the builders merchants Howden Joinery, jumped 7% to 136.25p today despite the hefty write-off, after reporting a better-than-expected 35% surge in profits for 2006.
Guardian Unlimited