Closure of Castorama Germany

Kingfisher PLC
09 January 2003


EMABARGOED UNTIL 0800 HOURS
Thursday 9 January 2003


                      KINGFISHER'S CASTORAMA TO EXIT GERMANY


Kingfisher plc today announced that it intends to close its loss-making six
store German subsidiary, Castorama Deutschland GmbH, as part of the Group's
previously announced review of its international home improvement operations.

Discussions have begun with the central works council to agree the overall
process for closure and plans for the 391 strong workforce.  The closure is
expected to take around eight months to complete during which time every effort
will be made to sell individual stores to minimise the loss of jobs.

It is anticipated that the impact to Kingfisher of this move will be an
exceptional charge of around £35 million.

                                -ends-




Notes To Editors

Castorama Deutschland GmbH was founded in 1990 and operates six stores at Kamen,
Koblenz, Wildau, Chemnitz, Castrop-Rauxel and Kassel.  The company, which
employs 391 people, is expected to make a £5 million loss in the current
financial year on a turnover of £40 million.

Kingfisher is Europe's leading home improvement retailer and is ranked number
three in the world. The Company operates more than 600 home improvement stores
in 12 countries and enjoys market-leading positions in the UK, France, Poland
and Taiwan. Sales for the Home Improvement sector for the year to 2 February
2002 were more than £5.8 billion, with retail profit in excess of £430 million. 
Kingfisher also has a strategic alliance with Hornbach, Germany's leading big
box home improvement retailer, which operates 99 stores across Europe.

Kingfisher's Electrical & Furniture business operates more than 830 stores in
nine countries.  It is Europe's third largest electricals retailing business by
sales and number two by retail profit. As well as holding the leading position
in France with Darty and BUT and the number two position in the UK with Comet,
Kingfisher also enjoys leading positions in Belgium and in the Czech and Slovak
Republics.  Sales for the year to 2 February 2002 were more than £3.7 billion,
with retail profit of £184 million.



Broker and Institutional Enquiries
Ian Harding, Director of Financial Communications           [phone]
Frederique Lepelletier, Head of IR, Continental Europe      [phone]

Media Enquiries
Jonathan Miller, Head of Corporate Comms, UK                [phone]
Graham Fairbank, Head of Corporate Comms, France           [phone]

The Maitland Consultancy
Duncan Campbell-Smith                                       [phone]

Kingfisher plc                                              [phone]
Kingfisher website                                            www.kingfisher.com



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange