Growth of DIY business

The sales figures of the Easy DIY stores belonging to the Chilean Cencosud Group grew by 8.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 to CLP 169 308 mio . The company was able to increase its operating profit on the same period last year by 7.9 per cent for a total of CLP 51 652 mio. The sales growth goes back solely to the positive trend in Argentina, where a turnover of CLP 103 284 mio was recorded, which amounts to an increase of 15.7 per cent (0.5 per cent like-for-like). In Chile, on the other hand, sales went down by 4.8 per cent (-8.1 per cent like-for-like) to CLP 64 074 mio. At the end of the quarter the group had 72 DIY stores in operation (25 in Chile, 46 in Argentina and one in Columbia) with a combined retail area of about 600 000 m².