April sales up

The German DIY retailers achieved a 3.1 per cent increase in sales during April, according to a report from BHB's DIY Panel. It also reveals that the core product groups used for interior finishing work in particular notched up considerable growth. The pet products and pet food module also seems to have stood its ground successfully. In the first four months of 2005, sales of € 5.72 bn were only 0.9 per cent lower than for the same period last year. The result for the first quarter was still as low as –2.8 per cent. In like-for-like terms, sales in April rose by 1.1 per cent over the comparable period last year, so that accrued figures for the first four months of this year result in an adjusted sales trend of –3.1 per cent.