Trade Depot closes: Screwfix grows

Kingfisher, owners of B&Q, Screwfix and Trade Depot, have announced the closure of the Trade Depots building supplies trade counter business. Resources will instead be focussed on B&Q and Screwfix.
Trade Depot was launched in 2005 and has nine outlets, but recorded a retail loss of £5m in the 2007 to 2008 financial year. The closure is expected to incur exceptional costs of around £20m this year with a £15m cash cost spread over three years.

For the 13 weeks up to November 1, Screwfix increased total sales by 8.1% to £126m, driven by the continued roll out of trade counters – now at 134 with four more planned for the next three months.

B&Q total sales declined 7.8% to £887m. B&Q now have 118 large stores and 205 medium stores.