Bricorama just holds on to level

Last year the French DIY retailer Bricorama only just managed to maintain its previous level of sales. The total value of € 732.28 mio was a mere 0.15 per cent below the previous year’s figure, despite a worsening of the situation towards the end of the year. The fourth quarter shows a minus of 4.01 per cent to € 168.68 mio. In the French home market the DIY retailer recorded sales of € 109.54 mio from October to December, which amounts to a loss of 3.72 per cent. The total here for the entire year came to sales of € 478.05 mio, or 0.99 per cent down. In addition to the difficult position of the economy throughout Europe, the company puts the blame for this on the ban on Sunday trading in the Parisian region, which affects 32 stores. It maintains that sales would have been comparable with the results for 2011 had it not been for this restriction. Bricorama’s sales in the Benelux states in the recently completed financial year came to € 232.49 mio, which is an increase of 2.6 per cent on 2011. This contrasts with sales in Spain, which fell by 9.51 per cent to € 21.75 mio.