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Germany's Praktiker to invest EUR 50 million in Bulgaria
To open 7 stores throughout the country March 31st, 2004 -- German home-improvement and D-I-Y chain Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermarkte AG, a unit of retail giant METRO Group, will make a greenfield investment of EUR 50 million in Bulgaria over the next three years, a senior company official said on Tuesday. The company plans to open seven stores in Bulgaria in the next three years, with the first one in the capital Sofia in September of this year and the second one in Bulgaria's second largest city, Plovdiv, next year. The stores will initially cover an area of 6,000 square metres each with a possibility to be enlarged in two steps to 9,000 square metres. "Bulgaria is for us a logical step in our international expansion covering many countries in this area," Praktiker board member Mr. Michael Arnold told a news conference on Tuesday. Praktiker runs almost 350 D-I-Y and home improvement outlets in eight European countries, including Hungary, Romania, Greece and Turkey. "The EUR 50 million Praktiker investment will be made only for equipping and running the stores, while other investors will buy and own the land and build the stores," Bulgaria's Economy Minister Mrs. Lidiya Shuleva told the same news conference. "That means that the investment in the stores is maybe twice or three times higher." Praktiker said it planned to work with different partners in the construction of the stores around Bulgaria. The German company's main competitor in Bulgaria will be France's D-I-Y retailer Mr.Bricolage (Doverie Brico AD), which runs three stores in the country. The firm also faces another type of competition, linked to shopping habits of the Bulgarians which are typical for south and east Europe. Bulgaria, which enjoyed a healthy economic growth of 4.3% in 2003, attracted an all-time high of USD 1.36 billion in foreign direct investment last year, up from USD 907.7 million in 2002. About Praktiker Hardware and Home Improvement Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermarkte AG is one of the leading companies in the D-I-Y and home improvements sector in Europe. The company currently has 346 stores, of which 293 are in Germany, and 53 in seven further countries. In 2002, the company achieved a net turnover of approx. EUR 2.6 billion. Praktiker has 18,226 employees of whom 4,096 are outside Germany. The first Praktiker D-I-Y superstore was opened in 1978. By the turn of the millennium there were approximately 350 stores throughout Europe. This continuous growth bears the mark of a customer satisfaction based not only on the attractive pricing of Praktiker’s range. Whatever the country, Praktiker speaks the language of the D-I-Y enthusiast. With its clear profile, Praktiker has developed to become what it is today, an unmistakable brand in the international D-I-Y superstore industry. In September 2002, Praktiker became the first German company to open a D-I-Y superstore in Bucharest, Romania. In October 2003, it opened its second D-I-Y store in the Romanian capital, covering a selling area of 6,200 square metres. Praktiker is the second largest supplier of D-I-Y products in the German market. About METRO Group METRO Group is an international high-performance trading and retailing group of companies focused on sustainable profitable growth. All companies and departments of METRO Group have a common performance, leadership and social policy identity. Sources: EuroCapital Finance SA, Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermarkte AG. Related articles:
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