True Value slightly up

The head office of Chicago-based True Value, a hardware cooperative, reports sales of US $ 977.3 mio for the first six months (to 2 July 2011), a rise of 2.2 per cent on the same period last year. The rate of growth in the second quarter was a mere 0.4 per cent. The retailers affiliated to the cooperative were 0.6 per cent down in the first six months of this year, during which time they expanded their store area by the addition of 56 000 m² to the format. The cooperative expects to achieve floorspace growth of some 116 000 m² for the year as a whole.