Kingfisher plc is a British multinational retailing company headquartered in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. It has over 1,300 stores in nine countries, and its brands include B&Q,

Castorama 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 subsidia ...

Brico Dépôt 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 B ...

and

Screwfix 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 o ...

. Kingfisher is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

, and is a constituent of the

FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...

History

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. Woolworths already owned B&Q, and the company expanded through subsequent acquisitions of companies such as

Superdrug Superdrug Stores plc (trading as Superdrug) 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 (Health & Beauty UK) Ltd which is part of the A.S. Watson Group. It ...

and

Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

. 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 Sir Geoffrey John Mulcahy (born 7 February 1942) is a British businessman who led Kingfisher plc, the FTSE 100 Index company. Career Born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, Sunderland Ellen MacArthur Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur (born 8 July 1976) is a retired English sailor, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight. MacArthur is a successful solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005, ...

. Woolworth Holdings was renamed Kingfisher plc in December 1989. Further acquisitions included European companies such as

, BUT S.A. and Wegert. In July 1999, Kingfisher attempted a takeover of

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...

, one of the United Kingdom's largest supermarket chains, only to be beaten by

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

. In August 2001, coupled with an acrimonious battle for control of

, the resultant share price pressure forced the sale and demerger of several parts of the company, including Woolworths (forming the

Woolworths Group Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

), and the demerger of the electricals business to form

Kesa Electricals 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 ...

in July 2003 – causing the company to refocus entirely around

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

. The company was led by Gerry Murphy from December 2002 to November 2007. In January 2008, Kingfisher appointed Ian Cheshire as group chief executive. Cheshire was formerly B&Q's chief executive; his B&Q role was taken over in April 2009, by

Euan Sutherland Euan Sutherland is a Scottish businessman who was the Chief Executive of SuperGroup plc which owns the Superdry chain of clothing shops. On 11 December 2019 it was announced he will take over as CEO of the over-50s insurance company, Saga. He ...

, who also headed up the United Kingdom division of Kingfisher. In September 2014, it was announced that the head of Castorama

Véronique Laury Véronique Laury (born 29 June 1965) is a French businesswoman, was chief executive officer (CEO) of Kingfisher, a UK based retail group, from February 2015 to September 2019. In March 2019, it was announced that Laury would leave Kingfisher at ...

would replace Ian Cheshire as Kingfisher group CEO in February 2015. Laury had worked at Kingfisher for eleven years, including roles at B&Q. In June 2017,

Andy Cosslett Andrew Peter Cosslett, (born 14 April 1955) is a British businessman and chairman of the Rugby Football Union, and Kingfisher plc. He is also an operating partner at Advent International, and a trustee of Shooting Star Chase, a children's hosp ...

succeeded Daniel Bernard as chairman. 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. In September 2019,

Thierry Garnier Thierry Garnier is a French businessman, chief executive officer (CEO) of Kingfisher, a UK based retail group, since September 2019. Early life Garnier earned degrees from École Polytechnique and École des Mines. Career Garnier worked for Car ...

was appointed as CEO. In March 2021, following a franchise agreement with

Al-Futtaim Group The Al-Futtaim Group ( ar, مجموعة الفطيم, Majmouat al-Futtaim) is a large conglomerate based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. History The group was founded in the 1930s and expanded rapidly in the 1940s and 1950s becoming an integrated ...

, 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.

Operations

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. The companies now part of the Kingfisher group are: * B&Q; operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland *

; in France, Spain, Portugal and Romania *

; in France and Poland * Koçtaş; 50% joint venture in Turkey *

; in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Former operations

; spun off June 2001, closed in December 2008. *

Comet Group 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 bra ...

; spun off July 2003, closed in December 2012. *

; sold to Kruidvat Beheer BV in July 2001, then A.S. Watson Group in October 2002. *

MVC MVC may refer to: Science and technology * Maximum-value composite procedure, an imaging procedure * Multivariable calculus, a concept in mathematics * Multivariable control, a concept in process engineering * Mechanical vapor compression, a desal ...

; spun off with the Woolworths Group, in July 2005, ceased trading January 2006.

References

External links

Official site

Yahoo profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingfisher Plc Retail companies established in 1982 British companies established in 1982 Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies based in the City of Westminster Home improvement companies of the United Kingdom Multinational companies based in the City of London Retail companies based in London