Mr. Bricolage sales hold up

Mr. Bricolage, the French DIY group, achieved total gross sales of € 1.8882 bn in 2009, a result that is 0.2 per cent down on the previous year. The 418 stores under the Mr. Bricolage banner (with a retail area of 1.258 mio m²) accounted for € 1.7730 bn of the total. They generated an increase of 0.4 per cent. On the other hand, the group's 88 Catena stores (87 000 m²) recorded sales of just € 115.2 mio, which means they failed by 9.4 per cent to keep up the previous year's level. In France the Mr. Bricolage stores were 0.85 per cent down like-for-like, while sales of the Catena outlets were 1.1 per cent down. Sales in the overseas territories (DOM-TOM) recorded further growth. The 51 international stores located in ten different countries reported sales of € 191.2 mio, which is 0.7 per cent below the previous year's result. This amounted to a decline of 8.8 per cent like-for-like, which was caused in particular by a 16.6 per cent downswing in eastern Europe.