Our budgeted $180 million year ended in the red after the Ukraine war. Here’s how we survived

At the beginning of 2022, I was riding high. I had three successful furniture brands — Nordiska Galleriet (NOGA), Länna Möbler and Dusty Deco – that were on track to make $180 million that year, having grown from $5 million in 2017. I’d founded NGLM Group in 2016, acquired a small store in Stockholm called Nordiska Galleriet, that was later re-named to NOGA (no-ga.com) outside of Sweden, and launched an e-commerce platform for it. By 2021 we’d decided to make our largest investment yet, merging all our acquired companies into one single entity. Then Putin invaded Ukraine. I remember I was skiing in the Swiss Alps when I looked at my phone and saw a 30% drop in sales. At first I thought we had a data problem, but when I called the office they confirmed it. We had just doubled the size of our warehouse, invested in a massive IT platform that was being built and planned to expand in several markets. Overnight NOGA went from making six million euros in profit – while maintaining almost 80% organic growth — to losing the same amount. Our problem was that Ukraine and Russia are Europe’s key market for oak, and suddenly there were six to 12 months of delays. We were forced to cancel hundreds of customer orders. It wasn’t just the raw materials. Furniture — and luxury furniture in particular — became an unnecessary luxury during the subsequent economic downturn that hit the continent. It wasn’t just us, either: fashion giant LVMH reported declining turnover and the furniture sector experienced its worst year since the Second World War. The effects of that economic crisis continue to be felt in Europe: In Sweden’s premium furniture segment alone, more than half of our competitors have closed down or filed for bankruptcy in the past four years. Between 2022 and 2024, inflation in Sweden rose more than 20%. We were at the heart of what was a perfect storm. I stood to lose it all — and I won’t lie, it was a humbling experience. I was 33and I had honestly felt