It’s been just over a year since Joinwell and FXB, two of the most well-established and longest standing furniture companies in Malta, signed a historic merger agreement. Now that the dust has settled, JoinwellFxb Business Development Manager Stephanie Vella is well positioned to give an insight into how the local market reacted and, more importantly, how the merged entities have progressed since the signing.

“We were both confident that our industry was ripe for consolidation. The challenge was to choose the best partnerships,” Stephanie begins, maintaining that the strength of the JoinwellFxb merger lies exactly within the core strengths of the two companies at the time of the merger.

“Joinwell’s strong retail presence complimented FXB’s manufacturing and contracting strengths, and together, we created the right width and depth of supply to enhance our presence throughout the industry. The market’s reaction then exceeded our best estimates, as confirmed by the consequent rapid market share growth throughout our portfolio,” she smiles.

Shedding light on how the internal workings of the organisation have changed, the Business Development Manager says that the teams reacted positively, with the immediate market share growth certainly being a contributing factor.  

“It took the team’s mind off any concerns about the eventual team size as it became clear we still needed to upsize. The functions which are not already integrated have started the process, and we have also since acquired and integrated the operations of a third industry operator,” she explains.

At the time of the merger announcement, the directors of both companies shared that the goal involved the attainment of the next level of business and to become more of a complete solutions company for an even wider customer base. A year on, Stephanie says that this drive turned out to be exactly what the market is looking for. “Our wider range of products and services has proved successful with both our existing clientele and new customers. The cross selling of a wider and more complete range of products and services has contributed to significant order bookings growth,” she reveals.

Specifically, the B2B and contracting sectors of the business are evolving and becoming even more competitive, whilst also bringing about new opportunities. Delving further into how JoinwellFxb has increased its presence in the sector through the merger, and the work the merged entities are doing to meet these challenges moving forward, Stephanie says, “we have primarily beefed up our technical and project management expertise. We have also teamed up with a good number of local and foreign partners which has enabled us to participate in several significant projects which would have been beyond our potential, in terms of scope of supply, expertise and scale, had we stayed as separate companies.” 

Looking ahead, the Business Development Manager looks forward to the continued successful progression and closure of several prestigious projects, as well as embarking on even bigger and more exciting ones in the months to come. 

“The company’s growth has also led to further investments where we will be launching a specialised CRM system to provide an even more seamless experience for our customers,” she continues, adding, “we are also planning additional capital investments for both factories as well as a new JoinwellFxb showroom in Mriehel.” 

“All of this will help us in no small way to stay on course of our core focus: through responsible sourcing and manufacturing, providing quality products that are built to last,” Stephanie concludes.