French furnishings firm Roche Bobois SA has reported a decline in first quarter sales.
According to its Q1 2026 trading update, total sales were down 5.6% to €87.1m from €95.2m in 2025.
Roche Bobois said the decline was in line with expectations and consistent with the retail sales trend in Q4 and the year-end order backlog, in a less favourable global economic environment.
Revenue in France for Roche Bobois brand stood at €26.2 million (-5.7%), while Cuir Center showed strong resilience thanks to its mid-range positioning, generating €10.7 million in Q1 2026 compared with €9.4 million in Q1 2025, representing growth of +13.0% over the period.
At constant exchange rates, the US/Canada region is almost stable (-0.8%) compared with Q1 2025. The decline in revenue (to €26.6 million versus €29.5 million a year earlier) thus stems almost entirely from euro/US dollar exchange rate effects.
The Europe region (excluding France) recorded a sharper decline, particularly in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. Revenue for the region amounted to €19.0 million in the quarter, down -16.2% at current exchange rates.
Finally, the Overseas region reported revenue of €3.8 million, compared with €4.9 million a year earlier, mainly due to unfavourable exchange rate effects and a decrease in international franchise royalties.
“In terms of retail sales, March 2026 showed encouraging signs of recovery in the United States/Canada, driven by the success of the “Design Days” sales event, as well as in the Overseas region,” the company said.
“As a result, the retail sales from directly operated stores returned to positive territory in March (+1.1%). The Group thus managed to offset part of the shortfall recorded at the end of February. As of the end of March 2026, cumulative retail sales from directly operated stores stood at €97.2m. The cumulative retail sales (franchised stores and all brands combined) came to €155.1m as of March 31, 2026, showing a similar decline.
“Consequently, the order backlog stood at €139.2m at the end of March 2026 (compared with €122.7m at December 31, 2025, and €161.1m at the end of March 2025). It should be noted that order backlog as of the end of March 2026 includes an adverse currency effect of €6.2m.
“Given the level of order intake recorded, Q2 revenue is expected to follow a similar trend compared to Q1. However, exchange rate effects are expected to become more favourable starting in Q2 2026.
“Finally, the Group has previously gone through cyclical downturns in activity, with positive carryover effects in subsequent months. The resilience of its variable-cost business model helps to mitigate the impact of volume contractions.”
