Losses at UK DIY retail chain B&Q shrunk to €1.4 million, down from €25.9 million in 2013, as sales fell by 9 per cent in a”challenging” environment.

In the year ended February 1st 2014, B&Q, part of the Kingfisher group, reported losses before tax of €1.4 million, as sales slipped back to €76.7m, according to company accounts lodged with the Companies Registration Office. The chain reported no new impairment charges (€8.2m in 2013), but took a €3m charge for “fundamental restructuring costs” related to the examinership process(€7.6m in 2013).

B&Q said that trading remained “challenging”, and that its performance was impacted by the uncertainty caused by the company entering and succesfully exiting the examinership process.

The retail chain was placed into examinership on January 31st 2013, but following the closure of one store in Waterford and an equity investment of €2.4m it exited the process on May 14th of that year.

Employee numbers fell by 15 per cent during the year, down from 738 in 2013 to 624 in 2014.

Looking ahead, the company directors said that they believe that B&Q Ireland “continues to offfer greater products and great prices to attract customers to stores,”, adding that it hopes to grow market share by strengthening its appeal to both the DIY and do-it-for-me (DFM) customer.