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DFS boss heads to the region

THE boss of the UK’s best known and biggest furniture retail chain is set to reveal to North East entrepreneurs why he decided to sell the business he founded forty years ago.

Lord Kirkham, the executive chairman of DFS, is making a return visit to speak at the Entrepreneurs’ Forum annual business conference on May 20.

He last appeared in 2005, shortly after winning a hard-fought campaign to return DFS to private ownership after 11 successful years on the stock market.

Five years on, he has just agreed its sale to private equity specialists Advent International for a rumoured £0.5bn.

The Yorkshire miner’s son will take the story on, explaining how DFS developed after he took the bold decision to invest £200m of his family’s fortune to buy it back, and why he now feels the time is right to move on to the next phase of his life.

Lord Kirkham launched his company, then known as Northern Upholstery, in 1969.

Today, the business operates 74 stores across the country and has 2,600 staff.

Married with two children, Lord Kirkham – who was awarded his peerage in 1999 – is just as well-respected for his work outside of the business world.

He was knighted for his contribution to the Animal Health Trust, of which he is an honorary fellow, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, and also received the CVO in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list of 2001.

Lord Kirham is strongly involved with a variety of charities, including The Blue Cross, the Outward Bound Trust and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme.

A devout advocate of the North, he received the accolade of Yorkshire Man of the Year in 2004.

Lord Kirkham’s story of his rollercoaster four decades at the helm of DFS is expected to be one of the highlights of the conference – entitled SEVEN – and gala dinner, taking place at the Hilton Hotel in Gateshead.

Forum chief executive Carole Beverley said: “Lord Kirkham was one of our most memorable speakers when he last came five years ago. The next chapter in his story following the buy-back of DFS was already going to be fascinating but it has now taken on an even more intriguing turn with the announcement that he is selling the business he has described as ‘the love of his life’.”

For further information about the conference, contact the Entrepreneurs’ Forum on 0870 850 2233 or log onto www.entrepreneursforum.net

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .