Losses in DIY retail business

The Irish Grafton Group has announced that its DIY retail business experienced severe losses in the 2008 financial year. The 41 DIY stores operating in Ireland (Woodie’s DIY and Atlantic) and seven specialist kitchen outlets realised € 303.1 mio, or 11 per cent less than the previous year (also in like-for-like terms). According to the company, the operating profit of the DIY division declined considerably as a result. Negative development in 2008 was not limited to the DIY business alone: the builders’ merchant group’s total turnover went down by 16.6 per cent to € 2.67 bn, and pre-tax profit saw a collapse of 72.8 per cent to € 64.1 mio.