Howden Joinery Group Plc is the multinational parent company for the Howdens Joinery business (Howdens) based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. It is a supplier of kitchens and joinery products to the building trade. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

, and is a constituent of the

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History

The brand was adopted and developed by Matthew Ingle as a business unit within MFI Furniture Group plc (MFI) in 1995. It started trading with 14 depots. In October 2006, MFI sold its loss-making MFI retail business to Merchant Equity Partners for £1, whilst retaining Howdens. At the same time, the name of MFI was changed to Galiform plc. In 2007, Howdens' own appliance brand, Lamona, was launched. In November 2008, the MFI retail business entered administration, and Galiform became liable for the costs associated with 46 MFI stores (the legacy properties), incurring an exceptional charge of £99.7m. However, by December 2012 the legacy properties had been reduced by over 80%. In September 2010, Galiform changed its name to Howden Joinery Group plc. Howdens was granted a Royal Warrant as a Supplier of Fitted Kitchens by Appointment to Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

in January 2015, and was chosen as one of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' ''25 Best Big Companies to Work For'' in 2020. In July 2017, the company announced the retirement of Matthew Ingle, after twenty two years at the company, and the appointment Andrew Livingston who joined as chief executive in January 2018. In September 2019, Howdens refreshed the creative execution of the brand – with a new logo and the removal of "Joinery" from the brand mark. The brand was listed as a ''Business Superbrand'' in September 2019.

Operations

The company has more than 900 depots nationwide, that sell to the trade (small builders). It also trades as Howdens Cuisines from 60 depots in France and Belgium. Howdens sells kitchens (including worktops, flooring, appliances, sinks, taps and lighting), bedrooms, joinery, hardware, tools, and bathroom cabinetry. It offers a free home survey and planning service. The company manufactures its cabinets, laminate worktops and breakfast bars in

Howden Howden () is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of York to the north of the M62 motorway, M62, on the A614 road about south-east of York and north of Goole, ...

, East Yorkshire and

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

, Cheshire. All products manufactured by Howdens hold the FSC chain of custody certification.

References

{{Authority control British companies established in 1995 Manufacturing companies established in 1995 Manufacturing companies based in London Companies based in the City of Westminster Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies in the FTSE 100 Index