B&Q to close 60 stores and open new 60 Screwfix stores

Kingifisher, the owner of DIY chains B&Q and Screwfix, announced 15.2 per cent fall in pre-tax profit to £644m for 2014. They also are to close about 60 B&Q stores in the UK and Ireland over the next two years, and open 60 new Screwfix outlets this year, as their CEO for B&Q and UK & Ireland Kevin O’Byrne, would leave the firm on 15^th May 2015.

The firm, which currently has 360 B&Q stores, has so far earmarked six stores for closures: Southampton, Dundee, Baums Lane in Mansfield, Station Road in Stechford in Birmingham, Hyde in Greater Manchester, and Barnsley.

Screwfix openings, which will create 900 new jobs, and plans to redeploy staff to other parts of the business.

The store closures come as new Kingfisher chief executive Veronique Laury’s plans to stamp her authority on the group.

The firm’s performance in France continued to be weak, with sales down 6.6% for the year, which it blamed on “an ongoing soft market”, driven by weak consumer confidence and a declining housing and construction market, while in the UK and Ireland, sales in fact rose 5.4 per cent, which it said reflected a stronger UK economy and more buoyant housing construction.