Home and DIY retail group Kingfisher is expanding its Brico Dépôt format into Romania, it has been announced today, acquiring 15 home improvement stores in the country for an undisclosed sum.
Adding two per cent of selling space to its bricks & mortar portfolio, the deal increases Kingfisher‘s total store number to 1,050 across nine countries in Europe and Asia.
Acquiring the Bricostores from French retail company Group Bresson, Kingfisher is due to complete the deal in the next two months and expects the stores to be earnings neutral in the first year.
Bricostore Romania reported sales of €131 million (£112.2 million) last year, is one of the largest home improvement retailers in the country with four branches in Bucharest and it is hoped that the Brico Dépôt format offers scope to increase the portfolio in the longer-term by around 50 stores.
Kingfisher Group CEO Ian Cheshire said of the deal: “The Brico Dépôt store model has proved very successful in France and Spain, and we have said before that it has the potential for further international expansion.
“Expanding Kingfisher‘s businesses in existing countries and in new territories is a key part of our ‘Creating the Leader‘ strategy and I am therefore delighted to announce this exciting development.”
News of the acquisition comes as department store group Debenhams revealed that it had closed half a dozen franchises in Romania, citing “an extremely difficult market”.
Nonetheless, the group is confident of securing growth in the region, as Cheshire concluded: “The home improvement market in Romania has solid growth potential and the stores we are acquiring are in good locations.
“We are looking forward to offering Brico Dépôt‘s low-cost, easy to shop format to trade professionals and serious DIYers in Romania and developing a successful business there
