The giant DIY brand is set to open 40 new stores across the UK over the next year.
Screwfix plans to open dozens of new stores across the country as owner Kingfisher aims to expand the DIY brand's national presence.
Kingfisher plans to open up to 40 new Screwfix stores this year, with The Sun potentially revealing the first of five new stores opening their doors to shoppers.
Screwfix is opening two new stores this month, with three more scheduled to open in April.
The new store opened on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich on Monday 4th March.
On Saturday 23 March, Screwfix opened another store in Staverton, Gloucester.
The brand will then open three more new stores in the following locations:
- Burslem, Stoke – Opens on Friday 12th April
- South Molton, Devon – Opening on Friday 26th April
- Sherborne, Dorset – Opening on Thursday 18th April
After announcing full-year results on Monday, Kingfisher reported that Screwfix opened 51 stores in the last financial year.
Screwfix employs over 14,000 staff and operates 922 stores across the UK.
Kingfisher, which also owns B&Q, has announced that its compact store format, B&Q Local, will also expand to more high streets in the UK in the coming months.
B&Q opened nine of these new stores in the UK last year and plans to open more.
Mr Kingfisher said: “We believe there are around 50 basins or geographical 'white spaces' in the UK where B&Q is currently undervalued.”
B&Q, which has more than 300 stores in the UK, has given up some retail park land in favor of smaller, more compact stores on high streets.
Last year, B&Q closed several stores within Asda supermarkets.
The store partnered with Asda in 2020 to launch these “mini-shops” inside supermarkets.
However, all eight sites were shut down on March 11, 2023.
The announcement came on the same day Kingfisher revealed annual profits had fallen by more than a quarter.
The group reported a 25.1% decline in underlying pre-tax profits to £568m for the year to January 31.
Kingfisher, which also owns French brands such as Castorama and Brico Dépot, said like-for-like sales fell 5.9% in France and 7.7% in the rest of Europe.
However, it said there was a stronger performance in the UK and Ireland, where sales rose 0.8%, while group sales fell 3.1%.
The group entered the new financial year narrowing its previous sales decline to a 2.3% decline.
However, it warned that profits are expected to fall again in 2024-2025 to between £490m and £550m, lower than the £560m expected by analysts.
The announcement comes after the company had already issued profit warnings twice this year, once last fall.
A decline in consumer spending on DIY and a weak housing market are exacerbating Europe's overall woes.
Kingfisher has announced plans to turnaround its beleaguered French division, hinting at job cuts as part of an overhaul that also includes store restructuring and store renovation plans to boost weak performance in the region. did.
Kingfisher CEO Thierry Garnier said the group was cutting 58,781 employees as part of the reforms specifically in France, but it remains unclear how many jobs will be affected. He declined to say anything about it.
It employs 17,698 people in France and 25,106 people in the UK and Ireland.
He said the group hired more during the coronavirus pandemic and the DIY boom, but has since pulled back as sales have declined.
“We did a major recruitment drive in 2020 and 2021. In tough times, it's your job to be flexible with your workforce to meet demand,” he said.
The company said much of the layoffs were due to employee departures, with a so-called attrition rate of about 30%, which it said was lower than other companies in the retail industry.
We have already saved around £350m across the group in recent years and expect further savings of around £120m over the next year.
The group hopes this will offset higher wages and spending on IT, including AI to improve product inventory.
“Despite all the macroeconomic and consumer challenges in our markets over the past year, we have remained focused on our customers and our long-term strategy,” Garnier said.
He added: “While repair, maintenance and renovation activity for existing homes continues to support strong demand in the short term, there is a mismatch between housing demand and home improvement demand that will likely impact the overall market in 2024. “We are cautious about the outlook,” he added.
“Against this backdrop, we will continue to be agile and leverage our strategies to grow market share, drive productivity improvements, and effectively manage costs and capital. I will continue to focus on that.”