Formerly | |
---|---|
Company type | Public limited company |
LSE: KGF OTCQX: KGFHF FTSE 100 Component | |
ISIN | GB0033195214 |
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 16 September 1982 |
Headquarters | London, England, UK [3] |
Key people |
|
Products |
|
Revenue | £13,059 million (2023) [4] |
£870 million (2023) [4] | |
£471 million (2023) [4] | |
Number of employees | 80,000 (2024) [5] |
Subsidiaries | |
Website | kingfisher |
Kingfisher plc is a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. [6]
It has over 1,300 stores in nine countries, and its brands include B&Q, Castorama, Brico Dépôt and Screwfix. [7] Kingfisher is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. [8]
The company was founded in 1982 as Paternoster Stores Ltd, to conduct a buyout of the British Woolworths chain. In March 1983, Paternoster changed its name to Woolworth Holdings plc. [9] Woolworths already owned B&Q, and the company expanded through subsequent acquisitions of companies such as Superdrug and Comet. [9]
The business acquired Screwfix in July 1999, which is now the United Kingdom's largest multi channel retailer of trade tools, accessories and hardware products. The company was led from January 1984, until his retirement in December 2002, by Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy. Largely through his influence, the company became the major sponsor of British sailor Ellen MacArthur. [10]
Woolworth Holdings was renamed Kingfisher plc in December 1989. [9] Further acquisitions included European companies such as Castorama, [11] BUT S.A. [12] and Wegert. [13] In July 1999, Kingfisher attempted a takeover of Asda, one of the United Kingdom's largest supermarket chains, only to be beaten by Walmart. [14]
In August 2001, coupled with an acrimonious battle for control of Castorama, [15] the resultant share price pressure forced the sale and demerger of several parts of the company, including Woolworths (forming the Woolworths Group), [16] and the demerger of the electricals business to form Kesa Electricals in July 2003 – causing the company to refocus entirely around DIY. [17]
The company was led by Gerry Murphy from December 2002 to November 2007. [18] In January 2008, Kingfisher appointed Ian Cheshire as group chief executive. [18] Cheshire was formerly B&Q's chief executive; his B&Q role was taken over in April 2009, by Euan Sutherland, who also headed up the United Kingdom division of Kingfisher. [19]
In September 2014, it was announced that the head of Castorama Véronique Laury would replace Ian Cheshire as Kingfisher group CEO in February 2015. Laury had worked at Kingfisher for eleven years, including roles at B&Q. [20] [21] In June 2017, Andy Cosslett succeeded Daniel Bernard as chairman. [22] [23]
In March 2019, it was announced that Laury would be leaving the business at a date to be announced, following the failure of her "One Kingfisher" plan, and a 52.8% collapse in pre tax profits. [24] In September 2019, Thierry Garnier was appointed as CEO. [25]
In March 2021, following a franchise agreement with Al-Futtaim Group, Kingfisher will expand its B&Q market to the Middle East. The Al-Futtaim Group will run and staff the stores in Saudi Arabia entirely. [26] [27]
Kingfisher currently operates over 1,300 stores in eight countries in Europe and in Turkey. Its main retail brands are B&Q, Castorama, Brico Dépôt and Screwfix. [28]
The companies now part of the Kingfisher group are:
Sir Geoffrey John Mulcahy is a British businessman who led Kingfisher plc, the FTSE 100 Index company.
Woolworths was a British high-street retail chain. At its height, it operated as Woolworths Group PLC, which included other companies such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK, and book and resource distributor Bertram Books
B&Q Limited is a British multinational DIY and home improvement retailing company, with headquarters in Eastleigh, England. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kingfisher plc. It was founded in March 1969 by Richard Block and David Quayle.
Castorama is a French retailer of DIY and home improvement tools and supplies, headquartered in Templemars, France, and is part of the British group Kingfisher plc, which has 101 stores in France and 90 in Poland. The company became a subsidiary of Kingfisher plc in May 2002, along with Castorama's own subsidiary Brico Dépôt.
HHGL Limited, trading as Homebase, is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre with stores across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Founded by Sainsbury's and GB-Inno-BM in 1979, the company was owned by Home Retail Group from October 2006, until it was sold to the Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers in January 2016.
Comet Electricals Limited, trading as Comet, is an online electrical retail chain based in the United Kingdom. The company sells consumer electronics and white goods, along with related products and services. Its predecessor, under the same brand name, pioneered the concept of the out-of-town discount warehouse in the United Kingdom.
Wickes is a home improvement retailer and garden centre, based in the United Kingdom with more than 230 stores throughout the country. Its main business is the sale of supplies and materials, for homeowners and the building trade. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Ian Rognvald Morrice is a Scottish-born CEO of Australia's largest wholesaler, Metcash Limited. He was appointed Group CEO in July 2013. Metcash is the leading buying, marketing and distribution company to independent retailers across Australia, a company that provides grocery goods, liquor and hardware to retailers. However, Ian Morrice had also held a non-executive director position with Metcash since June 2012.
Screwfix Direct Limited, trading as Screwfix, is a retailer of trade tools, accessories and hardware products based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1979 as the Woodscrew Supply Company, the company was acquired in July 1999 by Kingfisher plc, which also owns B&Q, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Groupe Fnac Darty, formerly Kesa Electricals plc, Darty plc and Darty Limited, is a multinational retail company headquartered in Ivry-sur-Seine, France. It was formerly a public limited company (PLC) listed on the London Stock Exchange, until it was merged with Fnac in 2016 and subsequently moved the listing to Euronext Paris.
Hornbach Baumarkt AG is a German DIY-store chain offering home improvement and do-it-yourself goods. Hornbach is one of the leading DIY-store chains in Germany. In the 2020/2021 financial year, the Hornbach Baumarkt Group generated sales of Euro 5.1 billion. The stores are owned and operated by Hornbach Baumarkt AG.
Entertainment UK Limited (EUK) was a retail supply and distribution company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Woolworths Group. The company, and Woolworths plc, entered administration with Deloitte on 26 November 2008. EUK claimed to have had a turnover in excess of £1.4 billion per annum, and over 160,000 lines of products.
Andrew Peter Cosslett, is a British businessman and chairman of the Rugby Football Union, and Kingfisher plc.
Superdrug Stores plc is a health and beauty retailer in the United Kingdom, and the second largest behind Boots UK. The company is owned by A.S. Watson Ltd which is part of the A.S. Watson Group. It was acquired as part of the buyout of Kruidvat BV in October 2002. The A.S Watson Group is itself part of the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings.
Brico Dépôt is a chain of DIY and home improvement stores, headquartered in Longpont-sur-Orge. The chain was created in 1993 by Castorama Dubois Investment and later purchased by the British group Kingfisher which operates 135 stores in Belgium, 123 in France, 34 in Romania, 28 in Spain and 3 in Portugal.
Sir Ian Michael Cheshire is a British businessman, formerly chairman of Barclays UK, the ring-fenced UK subsidiary of Barclays. He stepped down on 1 January 2021 and was succeeded by Crawford Gillies. He is lead non-executive director for the Cabinet Office board, campaign chairman of Heads Together, chair of The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund, chair of the independent charity, the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, and a trustee of The Institute for Government. He was previously chief executive (CEO) of Kingfisher plc, a British multinational retailing company, and was chairman of the British department store chain Debenhams from 2016 to 2019.
Big W was a British retail chain owned by the Kingfisher Group in the United Kingdom, which operated between 1998 and 2004. Big W stores were large format out-of-town megastores that featured products from all of Kingfisher's main retail chains at the time, consisting of Comet, B&Q, Superdrug and Woolworths.
Véronique Laury is a French businesswoman, was chief executive officer (CEO) of Kingfisher, a UK based retail group, from February 2015 to September 2019.
Régis Schultz, is a French businessman, currently the CEO of JD Sports. During his career, Régis Schultz held the positions of President of Retail at Al-Futtaim Group, CEO of French retail chain Monoprix and member of the executive committee of Groupe Casino, CEO of Darty, CEO of French retailer BUT and top executive of Kingfisher PLC.
Thierry Garnier is a French businessman, chief executive officer (CEO) of Kingfisher, a UK based retail group, since September 2019.
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