Increase in sales expected

The Federal Association of the German DIY, Building and Garden Specialist Stores (BHB) is anticipating an increase in sales by DIY store operators in Germany of 2 to 2.5 per cent this year. This was the estimate given by Michael Baumgardt, President of the BHB and CEO of Hagebau and Zeus. For the last year the association calculated a sales increase of three per cent, and 2.1 per cent on a like-for-like basis. The strongest month in 2010 in terms of growth was June, with a sales increase of almost 15 per cent compared with the same month in 2009, while the month with the strongest sales was April 2010 with roughly € 2 bn.