Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher is Europe's leading home improvement retail group and the third largest in the world. They specialise in home improvement products, appliances, tools, hardware and garden supplies and plants.

Their main brands include:

• B&Q - UK, Ireland and China
• Castorama – France, Poland, Italy and Russia
• Brico Dépôt – France, Spain, Poland
• Screwfix
• Koçtas - Turkey
• Trade Depot
• Hornbach - Germany

Kingfisher’s main brands

B&Q is the largest of the Kingfisher brands and it is the market leader in the UK in the DIY sector. B&Q has a warehouse store format and offers customers a wide range of products in its stores, on average around 32,000 products in a Warehouse store. B&Q Ireland operates in the same way.

B&Q China consolidated its position as market leader in 2005 with the purchase of OBI’s stores in China, which have all been converted to the B&Q format to become one of the largest Western retailers in China. B&Q now has 60 stores in China.

Castorama stores are located in prime retail locations in countries across Europe. Castorama Poland is the number one ranked DIY retailer and has a market leading position with 37 stores throughout Poland. Castorama Italy has 28 stores across Italy, including a number of smaller stores, called ‘Castorama Market’. In Russia the first Castorama store opened in Samara, Russia in February 2006.

Brico Dépôt is another DIY store aimed at tradesmen and professional DIYers developed in France. It has over 80 stores in France and has since expanded into Spain in 2003. The first Brico Dépôt format store opened in Poland in 2006.

Screwfix is the UK's largest direct and online supplier of trade tools, accessories and hardware products. Kingfisher also has a 21% interest in, and strategic alliance with, Germany's leading DIY warehouse retailer Hornbach that now has over 120 stores across Europe.

Kingfisher now operates over 755 stores in 9 countries in Europe and Asia dominating the retail home improvement market. Thus sales for the year that ended 3 February 2007 were £8.7 billion, 50% of which was generated outside the UK. Adjusted pre-tax profit for the year was £396.6 million.

History of Kingfisher

Kingfisher was founded in 1982 as a result of the buyout of the Woolworths chain by Paternoster Stores Ltd for £310m. Through out the next few years’ acquisitions of companies included B&Q, Superdrug, Comet and MVC that expanded the group. The group was renamed Kingfisher plc in 1989.

Further acquisitions of European companies such as Castorama, BUT and Wegert enabled the group to grow to become the largest general retail group in the UK. In 1999, Kingfisher and Asda announced their intention to merge. Kingfisher's offer was subsequently withdrawn following Wal–Mart's counter–bid.

In August 2001 it was announced that the general Merchandise business was to be demerged from Kingfisher plc to create two separately listed companies – Kingfisher plc and Woolworths Group plc. This move caused the Kingfisher group to refocus entirely around DIY.