IKEA Group's holding company, the Amsterdam-based Stichting Ingka Foundation, also owns the home furnishing company Habitat.
IKEA has 11 stores in the UK - in Nottingham, Bristol, Warrington, Birmingham, Gateshead, Croydon, London's Brent Park, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Thurrock.
The company began when Ingvar Kamprad opened a mail-order business in Elmtaryd, Agunnaryd - the initials spell IKEA - in Sweden in 1943.
In 1947 the company introduced furniture into the product range, which had previously consisted of an eclectic mix of products from pens to nylon stockings for which the market price could be undercut.
IKEA produced its first catalogue and opened its first showroom in 1953.
Five years later the company opened its first store and introduced flatpack.
It opened its first store outside Sweden in 1963 in Oslo, Norway. IKEA came to the UK in 1987.
The first version of its web site, www.ikea.com was launched in 1997 and in February 2001 IKEA began trialling e-commerce and mail-order facilities in Europe, offering between 20% and 30% of its products online.
In 1997 it introduced Children's IKEA and in October that year its quarterly customer loyalty magazine, Room, was launched.
In June 2000, IKEA announced a ten-year expansion plan for the UK, with plans to build 20 new stores, eight within the next five years.
In November 2001, ad agency St Luke's lost the £8m IKEA UK account after six years, following IKEA's decision to take its above-the-line work in-house.
In April 2002, IKEA launched its first ad campaign since the split.
The four ads use the strapline 'It's time to live unlimited'.
As well as the four 20-second ads, IKEA is putting inserts in the national and women's press, offering 'innovative fun solutions to help people to live a little unlimited tomorrow'.
The work was through creative studio Karmarama and strategic planning consultancy Outfit. Media was handled by MediaCom.
IKEA has also announced plans to launch a loyalty card scheme called IKEA Family in the UK over the next two years.
IKEA Family will be aimed at design-conscious homemakers, offering them help in transforming their homes. It will offer events with design experts and regular information bulletins.
Turnover: 11.3bn euros (£7.23bn)
Employees worldwide: 70,000
Figures for year to August 31, 2001
Advertising agency: In-house
Media buyer: MediaCom
PR agency: Condor Public Relations
Head of UK marketing Anders Danielsson
Annual advertising spend:
(year to April 2002):
TV £1,490,500
Radio £886,690
Press £630,728
Direct mail £188,683
Outdoor £52,173
Total £3,248,774
Source: ACNielsen MMS
UK headquarters:
IKEA Tower,
255 North Circular Road,
London NW10 0JQ
Tel: 020 8233 2300
Web site: www.ikea.com
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