On a par with last year

Mr. Bricolage, a French DIY retail group, achieved gross sales of € 915.6 mio in the first half of 2009, which amounts to an increase of 0.3 per cent on the same period last year. Whereas the Mr. Bricolage sales channel was able to increase sales by 0.7 per cent to € 858.3 mio, Catena store sales went down by 6.1 per cent to € 57.3 mio. Sales of the Mr. Bricolage stores in France fell by 0.7 per cent in like-for-like terms, but Catena’s remained constant. The 50 foreign outlets in nine countries increased their gross sales by 6.6 per cent to € 92.4 mio (-4.6 per cent like-for-like). At the end of June 2009 the group had 423 Mr. Bricolage and 104 Catena stores in operation, with a combined retail area of 1.381 mio m², following seven new openings and five store extensions.