Kingfisher goes to Romania

Kingfisher is taking over the 15 Bricostore outlets in Romania and so breaking into the DIY market of that country. This means that the French Groupe Bresson, which operates this channel of distribution, is withdrawing from yet another country. At the end of 2012 it ended its involvement in Hungary, where market leader Obi took over its three stores in Budapest. Now it operates only three stores in Croatia. The new British owners intend to convert the Romanian stores to their Brico Dépôt format over the next two months. They stress the good location of the stores, four of which are to be found in the capital Bucharest, mainly in the vicinity of branches of other international chains like Auchan, Carrefour or Ikea. Bricostore reported sales of € 131 mio in Romania last year and generated EBITDA of € 5 mio. In the longer term Kingfisher can see the potential for some 50 stores based on its marketing concept in the country. The fact that the German company Hornbach, in which Kingfisher has a minority stake, maintains five outlets there, is not expected to change anything in relations between the two groups. The British players rate the Romanian market as attractive and capable of growth. According to their assessment, the market volume of the modern DIY trade has tripled since 2005 to € one billion. The talk is of a well-developed DIY culture in this country with its population of 21 mio and eight million households.