MILAN — Amid challenges to its industrial plan and operational turnaround, high-end Italian design furniture firm Natuzzi has appointed a new chief executive officer. On Thursday, the firm said veteran executive Aldo Uva would lead the company, effective Monday.
Uva previously served as Natuzzi’s CEO from 2008 to 2009. According to his LinkedIn, he most recently served as chairman and CEO of Incredo, a global food-tech company that makes Incredo Sugar, a patented, sugar-based solution. In the statement the company said it was confident that Uva could help the company achieve long-term growth.
“With this appointment, the board completes an important step for our present and future. The board has full confidence in Aldo’s ability to advance Natuzzi’s transformation agenda and lead its disciplined execution toward sustainable long-term growth,” said founder Pasquale Natuzzi, who served as interim CEO following the departure of Antonio Achille in 2025.
Among its most recent challenges, the Bari-based furniture firm’s shares were suspended on the New York Stock Exchange, after its 30 trading-day average market capitalization fell below $15 million, and was therefore no longer in compliance with NYSE’s listing standards.
In September, the firm reported a drop in its second-quarter net sales to 60.0 million euros, compared to 78.3 million euros in the second quarter of 2025, reflecting a persistently challenging business environment. Those hurdles include obstacles to its 2026 to 2028 industrial plan, which was tested further in May by an ongoing impasse with trade unions over necessary job cuts.
Natuzzi Group, which produces sofas and other furniture at its facilities in Puglia, Basilicata and Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, as well as Romania, said the industrial plan is crucial amid a challenging macro and geopolitical environment.
“The 2026-2028 industrial plan proposed to institutions and social partners remains, for the company, the strategic response to the need to address the current significant geopolitical and economic instability and to adapt its business model in response to a global scenario undergoing profound transformation,” Natuzzi said in May.
Natuzzi, which has most recently worked with designers like Karim Rashid and Fabio Novembre, currently employs about 1,800 people. In July it said the industrial plan would affect the future of more than 400 employees, which the ministry said were “close to retirement.”
Natuzzi distributed its collections worldwide through a global retail network of about 565 stores and 687 wholesale partners at the end of 2025. According to the industrial plan, 72 openings with business partners were slated for 2026.
Last November, however, Natuzzi developed and initiated a reorganization and staff reduction plan to boost productivity and efficiency in the face of a drastic decline in purchases and in the markets where it is most active, the ministry said.
Natuzzi’s founder and chairman Pasquale Natuzzi Sr. started his career in Matera, Italy, in the 1950s. The firm’s strategy has been focused in part on the Middle East region. Natuzzi reopened its Riyadh store on King Fahd Road in July 2024.