Hagebau on a half-year high

In the first six months of 2004 the Hagebaumarkt outlets in Germany increased their sales by 1.3 per cent over the same period last year for a total of € 760 mio. The centrally invoiced turnover rose by 10.8 per cent to € 514.6 mio. According to information from central offices, the company’s participation in the German retail group Zeus has made itself felt here. It has had even more effect on the builders’ merchant side, and more still on the timber merchant business, which together achieved a distribution turnover of € 858.9 mio, which translates into growth of 15.5 per cent. Overall Hagebau recorded expansion of 14.0 per cent on a centrally invoiced turnover of € 1.73 bn. Germany accounted for € 1.56 bn of the total and an increase of 13.6 per cent. At the end of June Hagebau had 245 members in Germany (244 last year) with 923 outlets (932). These were made up of 286 (288) DIY stores, 532 (542) builders’ merchants and 105 (102) timber merchants.
In Austria the cooperative group recorded centrally distributed sales of € 168.4 mio, or 17.3 per cent more than in the first six months of 2003. Distribution sales rose by 88.7 per cent to € 67.6 mio, but there was a 7.6 decline in builders’ merchant sales to € 97 mio. Though the changeover of members at the beginning of the year has resulted in significant structural shifts here. At the end of the first half-year, Hagebau Austria consisted of 40 (30 last year) members with 156 (149) outlets, 63 (61) of which were Hagebaumarkt DIY stores and 93 (88) were builders’ merchants.