Our ambition is to become the leading home improvement company. We believe everyone should have a home they feel good about, so our purpose is to make home improvement accessible for everyone.
Improving homes
We want to help people achieve a better quality of life. Today, we have 1,300 stores in ten countries:
B&Q is the UK’s largest home improvement and garden centre retailer, with more than 17,000 people in 296 UK and Ireland stores.
At Brico Dépôt, over 11,000 people work at 190 stores in France, Spain, Romania and Portugal.
Castorama employs over 25,000 people in 218 stores across France and Poland, where we're the market leader.
With more than 9,000 employees, Screwfix is a UK market leader, with a growing business in Ireland.
Koçtaş is our joint venture in Turkey and the country’s number one home improvement retailer.
You’ll find things are changing quickly here. We’ve got lots of exciting ideas in the works. It’s all part of our plan to make home improvement accessible for everyone.
Take a look at how we’re doing just that.
Our roots go back to 1982 with the acquisition of FW Woolworths by Paternoster. With the deal comes a small chain of home improvement stores called B&Q.
Kingfisher later expands and buys Comet, Superdrug and Darty, the French electrical chain.
B&Q expands rapidly with the opening of larger warehouse-style stores.
First Castorama store opend in Warszawa Włochy at Popularna Street.
B&Q merges with Castorama, France's leading home improvement retailer and owner of the smaller, but fast-growing Brico Dépôt chain.
Kingfisher acquires Screwfix, the e-commerce and catalogue seller of screws and fixings.
Woolworths and Superdrug are demerged due to Kingfisher’s decision to focus exclusively on home improvement.
The remaining stake in Castorama is acquired to create the largest home improvement retailer in Europe.
Comet demerged due to Kingfisher’s decision to focus exclusively on Home Improvement.
Spain opened its first Brico Depôt store in Viana (Logroño).
The first Castorama store was opened in Russia in Samara.
With a new management team in place, Kingfisher set out its vision to operate the various home improvement businesses as a single, unified retail group.
We launch our Creating the Leader strategy, with the aim of delivering faster growth and higher returns by making home improvement easier.
Kingfisher acquires Bricostore’s 15 home improvement stores in Romania. Stores subsequently become Brico Dépôt.
Screwfix opens its first stores in Germany.
Kingfisher is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the RobecoSAM Sustainability Yearbook.
Kingfisher is included in the FTSE4Good Index.
Kingfisher wins two Guardian Sustainable Business Awards
Brico Depôt opened the Portuguese market with the first store in Loures.
Véronique Laury succeeds Sir Ian Cheshire as Kingfisher CEO.
Kingfisher wins the FTSE Executive Women Award at Business in the Community’s (BITC) Gender Equality Awards.
Brico Dépôt Spain wins Best Workplaces Spain Award.
One Kingfisher strategy launches. Read more here.
Two strategic partnerships launch, with the Red Cross and Shelter.
Kingfisher acquire Praktiker, one of the leading home improvement retailers in Romania: taking Kingfisher’s number of Romanian stores to 27.
Screwfix's 500th store launched!
20th Anniversary of Castorama Poland
Screwfix in Peterborough becomes the first store to be net zero in its energy usage, generating as much power as it uses and passing surplus energy back to the grid.
Screwfix's 600th store launched!
We strive to ensure all suppliers meet our ethical and environmental standards.
Kingfisher wants to help millions of people through strategic partnerships and local action in all our markets, whether it be sustainability projects or charities like Red Cross.
We’re not just a business, we’re a community: four leading brands, and one team, under many roofs.
By working together, we’re making things simpler for our customers: to choose environmentally friendly products, to find value for money, and to support their communities.
We think this makes us a better employer. It makes us a better neighbour. And it makes us a better business. Our surveys show most of our people agree.
A good home isn’t just part of a better life. It’s part of a better world. It’s our responsibility to do things sustainably, conscientiously and with our community in mind.
Today, our people are encouraging customers to save energy, water and money, reconnect with nature and reuse things. And we practise what we preach by running our company responsibly too - by managing sustainable resources, reducing the energy and carbon emissions we use and ensuring all of our suppliers meet our high ethical and environmental standards.
We’re also proud to support countless local community projects, from helping housing charities like Shelter and Foundation Abbe Pierre, to assisting the Red Cross.
This isn’t just good for the planet. It’s good for all of us. It means we can be proud of what we do – and how we do it.
Our customers are all different. That’s why we recruit people from over 130 countries with a variety of backgrounds, skills and experiences.
We’re doing everything we can – including providing learning, support, and career opportunities – to build a fair, rewarding and enjoyable place to work. We want to help you be the best you can be. Not just for our customers. Not just for our business. But for you.
Becoming the world’s leading home improvement company involves a lot of hard work, plenty of big changes and a variety of great people. Find out how we’re getting there.
