Expansionary thrust from growth countries

The Austrian DIY market leader, Baumax, has grown sales in the first six months of 2004 over the same period last year by 6.1 per cent to € 473.9 mio. The company’s stores outside Austria are chiefly responsible for this level of increase, because those its home country show growth of no more than 2.0 per cent for a total of € 259.2 mio. By contrast, Baumax in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia achieved an increase of 11.6 per cent on volume sales amounting to € 214.6 mio. The number of outlets came to 121 at mid-year, 69 of them in Austria and 52 in the growth countries.