Double-digit sales growth

In the second quarter, the stores of the Canadian DIY group Rona recorded sales 12.5 per cent higher than in the corresponding period last year. Sales of corporate and franchised stores amounted to C $ 859.96 mio (€ 579.90 mio). This growth is based on an increase in the number of stores and on the completion of the Totem takeover at the beginning of the quarter. In like-for-like terms the sales increase came to a mere 0.6 per cent, or 1.1 per cent without taking into account the decline in building material prices. This had very little effect on the EBITDA, which has seen a 23.8 per cent rise to C$ 104.57 mio (€ 70.52 mio). For the first half-year a sales increase of 10.8 per cent to C$ 1.338 bn (€ 902.26 bn) is reported for the DIY stores, and EBITDA came to C$ 126.61 mio (€ 85.38 mio), which amounts to a 21.9 per cent increase over the first half-year 2004.