Decline in DIY business

Last year the DIY business of the Irish builders' merchant group CRH sustained a like-for-like sales loss of six per cent. The group numbers 241 DIY stores either franchised or on a participatory basis in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany (51 Hagebaumarkt outlets of the Bauking Group), Portugal and Spain. In 2009 CRH recorded sales in the building materials and retail business of € 3.633 bn (-5 per cent) in Europe and of € 1.173 bn (-19 per cent) in America.