Sales negative

In the third quarter of 2010 the German Praktiker Group recorded a sales decline of 5.9 per cent to € 911.1 mio. The deficit at home amounted to 5.7 per cent, which was less severe than in the first six months. The Max Bahr brand, which was only 1.3 per cent down, was the main contributor to this result. The Praktiker brand achieved a quarterly sales figure that was 7.3 per cent down on the comparable period last year. By contrast, third-quarter sales abroad declined by 6.2 per cent, a fall that was steeper than at the half-year cut-off. The reason given for this was the weakness of the domestic economy in Greece and Romania, two countries that are important to Praktiker. Altogether the group recorded sales of € 2.6979 bn in the first nine months of the current financial year. That was 5.8 per cent less than in the comparable period last year. The decline came to 7.4 per cent in like-for-like terms.