New alliance

Two builders’ merchant cooperatives, Hagebau of Germany and Ditas of Denmark, have approved a strategic alliance that was announced at Hagebau’s members’ meeting in Munich. At the end of 2007 Hagebau had 298 members with 1 110 outlets in Germany and Austria, and achieved centrally invoiced sales of around € 3.8 bn. The DIY stores are administered by Zeus. Ditas is the market leader in Denmark in the areas of building materials, timber and DIY, with about 85 dealers, 150 outlets and centrally invoiced sales of € 750 mio. The cooperative operates the XL-Byg sales channel, which is geared to both trade customers and DIYers.