B&Q and Castorama: The picture was mixed

Sales £m
% Change
Retail Profit £m
% Change
2002
2001
2002
2001
UK
3,214.6
2,766.9
16.2
300.5
263.0
14.3
France
1,833.5
1,707.5
7.4
119.9
116.6
2.8
Other
785.8
619.1
26.9
10.3
18.9
-45.5
Total
5,833.9
5,093.5
14.5
430.7
398.5
8.1
UK
The UK repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) market grew by 7% in the 12 months to the end of January 2002. B&Q’s total UK sales growth of 16.2% was underpinned by the strong like-for-like growth of 10.8%. The like-for-like sales growth of the B&Q Warehouse format was 11.5% and 8.1% for Supercentres. Screwfix grew sales by 38.3%. During the year, B&Q continued the expansion of its range of exclusive products with the new take-away kitchen range, LOC laminate flooring and Performance Pro Power tools.
During the year, B&Q opened 21 new warehouses and added just over 230,000 square metres of space, representing growth of nearly 15%. B&Q ended the year with a 12.3% share of the RMI market, up from 11.2% last year.
There was a focus on operational efficiencies including improving stock turns and reducing the investment costs of building new stores. However, there was a one-off increase in store pre-opening costs due to the cost of reformatting five ex-Homebase mega-stores. In the year ahead, B&Q plans to open a further 15 B&Q Warehouses.--nextpage--
France
Total sales in France, where the market grew by 3.1%, increased by 5.7% in local currency or 7.4% in sterling terms. Like-for-like sales were ahead by 3.4%.
Castorama main chain stores in France reported sales down by 0.3% in local currency, reflecting in part the transfer of seven stores to Brico Dépôt. Like-for-like growth was a 0.5%.
Own label ranges were introduced for the first time, including paints and tools under the “Casto” brand name. The implementation of centralised buying and distribution continued during the year.
The Castorama France warehouse format has continued its development with the opening of three more stores in the year in Chambéry, Terville and Olivet. The in-store offer has been adapted, based on the experience from the first store at Claye Souilly which opened in October 2000. In particular, key ranges have been expanded to bring the overall number of stock units (SKUs) closer to that of a B&Q Warehouse. In the year ahead, there are plans to open another seven stores of this type.
Brico Dépôt, the Every Day Low Pricing (EDLP) retail-based format, outperfomed the market with like-for-like sales growth of 9.2%. There were nine new store openings, bringing the total number of stores to 43. A further 13 Brico Dépôt stores are planned to open in the coming year. --nextpage--
International
A total of 24 new stores opened and space grew by 16.9%. Overall international selling space now stands at 775,300 square metres. Sales growth was 26.9% of which 1.0% was like-for-like. Strong growth was achieved in Poland, Italy and China.
The overall profit decline was mostly driven by the investment costs of expansion in new markets and the associated increase in central infrastructure.  In Canada, six new stores were opened in the year, split evenly between Quebec and Ontario.
Despite a downturn in the Polish economy, Castorama showed strong sales and retail profit growth during the year, with four store openings bringing the total to 12.
B&Q Taiwan opened another four stores. Another three new stores were opened in China taking the total to five, including the biggest B&Q in the world, at 18,000 square metres, in Shanghai.
A total of 24 additional stores are planned in countries outside the UK and France in the current year with the emphasis in Poland, Taiwan and China.