Positive first quarter in Europe

Continuously positive, often double-digit percentage sales increases were recorded by the European DIY trade for the first quarter of 2014, according to an estimation by the European DIY-Retail Association Edra. They range from best value 15 per cent in Poland to 1.7 per cent in Finland. Even the major individual markets have reported high growth rates compared to last years period: 8.5 per cent in Germany, five per cent in France and eleven per cent in Great Britain.
Edra President Régis Degelcke presented these figures at the 3rd European Home Improvement Forum in Madrid. However, with regard to the extremely poor prior-year quarter he put these figures into perspective. “I’m not optimistic”, he said about the full year forecasts and specifically named France, Spain and Italy and the real estate markets of these countries.
The estimates for January to March 2014 in detail:
Poland: +15 %
Austria: +13 %
Norway: +12,5 %
Slovakia: +12 %
Switzerland: +12 %
Estonia: +11 %
Russia: +11 %
Great Britain: +11 %
Czech Republic: +10 %
Slovenia: +10 %
Romania: +9 %
Sweden: +9 %
Germany: +8,5 %
Netherlands: +7 %
Belgium: +6 %
Italy: +6 %
France: +5 %
Turkey: +3 %
Spain: +2,2 %
Ireland: +2 %
Finland: +1,7 %