Progress unsatisfactory

The Hornbach Baumarkt AG group of companies’ business made unsatisfactory progress in the second quarter of the current financial year. Net group sales, which recorded a rise of 2.3 per cent to € 653 mio, remained below expectations. According to the company, the reason for this is the negative like-for-like sales trend in Germany (-4.2 per cent). Hornbach achieved a like-for-like increase of 4.5 per cent outside Germany. On the strength of the first provisional figures, and following a 20.7 per cent deficit in the previous quarter, the group’s EBIT (Earnings Before Interest & Tax) for Q2 is reported at just under € 40 mio, or around 15 per cent below last year’s result (€ 47.0 mio). However, consolidated profit for the year rose during the quarter by a good twelve per cent to more than € 32 mio.