'Burger King billionaires reject mega bid for Dutch luxaflex factory,' Quote reports in big letters above an article in the business magazine. The Hunter Douglas company, known for the Luxaflex brand, among others, is facing huge financial losses, despite investor 3G Capital's claim that the company is doing well. Since 2022, 3G has owned 75% of the shares in the Dutch window decoration manufacturer, which, led by entrepreneur Ralph Sonnenberg, has recently been off the stock exchange. This was reported by business magazine Quote.
Hunter Douglas had sales of nearly $4.5 billion in 2023 but reported a loss of $533 million, which was even bigger than the $505 million loss in 2022. The losses were mainly due to goodwill write-downs, economic headwinds, increased interest rates, staff shortages and high raw material prices. Without these write-downs, the operating loss was even around $100 million.
Despite this, 3G remains optimistic about the company's future. According to Alex Behring, partner at 3G, Hunter Douglas has been improving efficiency since the acquisition, with the aim of accelerating global growth. 3G is said to be applying its experience from the successful restructuring of Burger King, with cost savings and strategic interventions at the heart of this.
Despite the negative figures, there is interest in the company: a mega-bid of $10 billion was recently rejected by the owners, suggesting that 3G has a different direction in mind with the blinds maker. However, it remains uncertain whether the announced strategy changes will be enough to turn around the loss-making period.
Source: Quote