Hornbach grows strongly at home

Hornbach, a German DIY retailer, increased group sales in the first six months of its 2011/2012 financial year (1 March to 31 August 2011) by 7.5 per cent to € 1.7802 bn. The Hornbach Baumarkt AG sub-group recorded sales of € 1.6676 mio in its 134 stores throughout Europe, an increase of 7.2 per cent on the same period last year. The plus came to 3.8 per cent like-for-like and in constant currency.Sales at home rose by 7.1 per cent in like-for-like terms, or 6.1 per cent unadjusted to € 957.1 mio. In the first quarter the like-for-like increase amounted to 11.9 per cent, and 2.2 per cent in the second quarter.Unadjusted sales of the Hornbach DIY stores outside Germany rose by 7.3 per cent in the second quarter and by 8.7 per cent in the first half-year. This means that the international share of sales was up by 42.6 per cent, mainly through expansionary activities. Overall the like-for-like sales for the first six months in the rest of Europe remained 0.5 per cent below last year’s comparable figure.