Kingfisher, owner of DIY chains Screwfix and B&Q, is to close around 60 of its B&Q stores in the UK and Ireland over the next two years, as well as its "few loss making stores in Europe".
The group said in a statement: "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 store closures will result in a £350 million one-off cost.
Kingfisher also announced a 15.2% fall in pre-tax profit to £644 million for 2014, impacted by a slower market in France since summer 2014, £34m adverse foreign exchange movements on the translation of non-sterling profits and £22m charges for new country development activity.
Véronique Laury, CEO, said: “Home improvement is a great market with huge potential and Kingfisher has a strong position within it with further scope to grow in a sustainable way. However, it is clear to me that we need to organise ourselves very differently to unlock our potential. This will involve taking what is essentially a locally managed set of businesses and creating instead a single, unified company where customer needs come first. The first step in developing this new organisation is the creation of a new, international leadership team with more focused cross-company roles.
“We have a lot to do and we are announcing today a set of first ‘sharp’ decisions which are already underway including the closure of around 15% surplus B&Q space (c.60 stores) and our few loss making stores in Europe, the development of unified garden and bathroom businesses and the start of a Big Box revitalisation programme across Europe.
“In addition, we will be developing our detailed plans for the wider reorganisation of the company as we progress on this exciting journey towards becoming ‘ONE’ Kingfisher.”
