Improvement towards year’s end

Last year the German Praktiker Group recorded sales of € 3.003 bn. That was 5.6 per cent down on the previous year. Sales in Germany went down by 4.3 per cent to € 2.191 bn. However, the negative trend slowed down towards the end of the year: after a minus figure of more than five per cent in the second and third quarters, the fourth quarter showed a fall of just -1.4 per cent. Sales for the year as a whole were 3.5 per cent down like-for-like. By the end of the year Praktiker’s network of stores had been downsized by 38, including eleven closures. The portfolio of the Max Bahr format rose by 27 outlets. The sales shares of the two sales channels have shifted accordingly: at € 1.409 bn, Praktiker Germany’s sales were 6.5 per cent down on the previous year, while Max Bahr’s figure of € 700 mio exceeded the previous year’s result by 0.7 per cent. The group’s foreign sales declined by 9.2 per cent for a total of € 811.8 mio.