Sales up, result down

For the first half-year 2005 AVA has announced a 1.6 per cent sales increase in its DIY division (1.5 per cent like-for-like) and a total of € 543 mio (1st half-year 2004: € 534.3 mio). The operating result is composed of a 1.2 per cent fall in sales in the first quarter of 2005 and growth to the tune of 3.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2005. The company calculates that the largely non-existent gardening and camping season was responsible for a negative operating result in the DIY division amounting to € 11.7 mio; the comparative figure came to -€ 7.4 mio in the same period in 2004. The sales of all AVA's retail companies rose by 0.6 per cent to € 2.71 bn in the first six months of 2005.