Friday, April 10, 2015

Hardware Retailer B&Q to Close 60 Stores in The United Kingdom and Ireland.


According to a recent article in Supply Chain Digital, Kingfisher, Europe's biggest home improvements retailer, has today announced it will be closing 60 of its B&Q stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland, after pulling out of a takeover for French chain Mr Bricolage.

British group Kingfisher, which owns the chains B&Q and Screwfix in Britain as well as Castorama and Brico Depot in France, said it would close the stores over the next two years at a restructuring cost of £350 million. Neither the exact locations nor number of planned job losses were disclosed.

"Kingfisher has said for some time that B&Q UK & Ireland can adequately meet local customer needs from fewer stores and that some of the stores should be smaller." the group said, while revealing the departure of B&Q Chief Executive Kevin O'Byrne.

It was announced also that Kingfisher's annual profits had dropped 19 percent to £573 million.

In a statement, the company said: "The results for the year reflect a mixed picture across our markets with the UK market improving but continental Europe, particularly France, proving to be a more challenging environment."

You can read the fill article from Supply Chain Digital here.

No comments:

Post a Comment