Sale of Dubois Materiaux

Kingfisher PLC 11 July 2003 Kingfisher sells non-core French specialist builders merchant subsidiary, Dubois Materiaux, for Euro 100 million Kingfisher announced today that it is selling its non-core French builders' merchant, Dubois Materiaux, to Point.P, which is part of Saint-Gobain Building Distribution. Point.P will pay a total consideration of approximately Euro 100 million. Completion is subject to clearance by the French competition authority, which is expected in autumn 2003. The sale proceeds will be used to reduce Kingfisher's debt. The impact of the transaction is expected to be earnings neutral but will give rise to an exceptional accounting loss on disposal of around £25 million. Dubois Materiaux was founded in 1951 by the Dubois family and operates 14 sites across France. In the financial year ended 1 February 2003, Kingfisher consolidated sales of £156 million and post tax profits of around £2 million for Dubois Materiaux. Kingfisher Chief Executive Officer Gerry Murphy said: 'The disposal of this specialist builders' merchant business is consistent with Kingfisher's new focus on large-scale, mass merchandise home improvement retailing through our B&Q, Castorama and Brico Depot brands.' Enquiries Telephone No Kingfisher plc Ian Harding +44 (0) 20 7644 1029 Loraine Woodhouse +44 (0) 20 7644 1032 Notes to Editors 1. Kingfisher is Europe's leading home improvement retailer. With more than 600 stores across Europe and Asia, Kingfisher is the world's most international home improvement retailer, enjoying market leading positions in the UK, France, Poland and Taiwan. Sales for the year to 1 February 2003 were over £6.7 billion, with retail profit of more than £534 million. 2. Saint-Gobain Building Distribution is the leading European distributor of building materials. Its main brands are Point.P, Lapeyre, La Plateforme du Batiment, Jewson and Raab Karcher. Point.P is the leading building materials distributor in France. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange QU

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