Kesko withdraws

12 of 14 K-rauta stores in Russia are sold to Leroy Merlin

Currently, Kesko operates 14 home improvement stores under the K-rauta brand in the Moscow and St. Petersburg areas.
Currently, Kesko operates 14 home improvement stores under the K-rauta brand in the Moscow and St. Petersburg areas.
20.02.2018

Kesko sells its Russian DIY stores to Leroy Merlin. After the Finnish group reported sales negotiations last week, it has now announced their implementation. It is closing twelve of its 14 K-rauta stores in Moscow and St. Petersburg in spring and will be handing them over to the Russian market leader by the middle of the year for RUB 12 bn (around EUR 169 mio). Two locations in the Moscow area will be completely closed. In total 1 800 employers will be affected. Kesko states the net sales of the stores to be EUR 184 mio for 2017.
The Finns, however, will remain in the country with their activities in the grocery trade, in the building materials and technical trade as well as in the car trade. Mikko Helander, chairman of the board of directors, gives the reasons for the withdrawal from the DIY store business as being because investments in Russia did not achieved the expected results. An expansion beyond the regions of St. Petersburg and Moscow would have required significantly more investment.
Leroy Merlin belongs to the French Groupe Adeo. With currently 75 locations, the chain is the number one on the Russian home improvement market and employs 23 000 workers there.
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