A partner on the fifth continent

The buying cooperative ARENA (Access to Retailers in Europe and North America) now has a partner in Australia. According to its declared sales figure, which converts into € 570 mio, the Mitre 10 DIY group is the market leader on the fifth continent. The ARENA members, Hagebau (Germany), ITM Enterprise (France), Rona-BMI (Canada), Ditas (Denmark), Mica (South Africa), together with Mitre 10, now operate a total of 2 000 outlets in ten different countries and represent external sales in excess of ten billion euro. The cooperative intends to increase its purchasing volume during the current year to a minimum of € 100 mio. This figure amounted to € 54 mio in the year 2002 and € 34 mio in the previous year.