Askona returns to its founder’s full control

Completed ownership change

Askona announced on 12 August 2025 that founder Vladimir Sedov had regained full control following a completed buyback. The transaction returned the 73% held by Swedish group Hilding Anders. Askona said its management team would continue working. Its stated investment priorities included manufacturing modernisation, automation and capacity expansion; retail priorities included larger flagship stores, e-commerce and omnichannel services.

The original partnership

Askona's announcement of 22 July 2010 recorded the sale of 51% of its shares to Hilding Anders after three years of discussions. The existing team, led by Sedov, would continue managing the company. Askona's profile accompanying that announcement put its 2009 turnover at $95 million and projected $130 million for 2010. Its manufacturing operations then included mattress factories in Kovrov and Novosibirsk, a spring-block plant and an upholstered-bed factory. The company described its retail network at that point as comprising more than 60 owned stores and over 300 partner stores.

The group's reported 2022 results

On 2 February 2023, Askona reported group revenue of 55.703 billion rubles for 2022, an increase of 15% over the preceding year. Online-store sales grew by 36% to 8.111 billion rubles. The group's strategy involved enlarging existing stores and flagship formats, with almost 15,000 square metres of new retail openings during 2022. Its network on 1 January 2023 comprised:

399 owned stores;
411 franchise stores;
89 stores in CIS countries, bringing the total to 909.

The company also reported a 5% improvement in manufacturing efficiency during 2022.

The subsequent production-cluster proposal

Askona presented its furniture-cluster project during Moscow's Interior and Design Week on 29 October 2023, according to its account published the following day. The proposal envisaged a manufacturing and logistics complex exceeding 120,000 square metres in the Dobrograd-1 special economic zone by 2025, with over 2,000 new jobs. The longer-term employment target was 6,700 by 2032. Planned facilities included workshops for sofas, beds, mattresses and cabinet furniture, alongside logistics, raw-material production and recycling facilities. Representatives described opportunities for furniture businesses to use the zone's existing energy and logistics infrastructure. These were the project's stated plans in October 2023.