Castorama

Kingfisher plc recorded an £84 million goodwill impairment on Castorama France in its fiscal year ended January 26, 2025, alongside £15 million in head office restructuring costs as part of total FY25 adjusting items of £221 million across the group. The Castorama France impairment reflected continued underperformance at the French banner relative to Kingfisher’s stronger UK B&Q, UK Screwfix, and Polish Castorama operations. The £84 million writedown formed part of a broader 2024 to 2025 strategic portfolio rationalization that also included Kingfisher’s December 2024 sale of Brico Dépôt Romania to Altex Romania (completed May 2025, 31 stores across 24 cities) and accelerated investment in Castorama France store productivity, omnichannel capability, and trade-customer proposition under CEO Thierry Garnier (appointed September 2019).

Castorama was founded in 1969 in Englos near Lille by Christian Dubois as France’s first large-format (5,000 square meter) self-service DIY store, pioneering the warehouse DIY model that would later define European home improvement retail. The brand was acquired by Kingfisher plc in May 2002 alongside its sister Brico Dépôt operating company, with Kingfisher subsequently divesting non-core geographies: 31 Castorama Italy stores sold to Leroy Merlin in February 2009, 21 Castorama Russia stores sold to local DIY operator Maxidom for £73 million in October 2020, and Castorama Spain wound down. Kingfisher plc is FTSE 100 listed and headquartered in London, operating 1,300+ stores across nine countries through Castorama, B&Q (UK and Ireland), Brico Dépôt (France, Iberia), and Screwfix (UK, Ireland, France).

Castorama operates 101 large-format DIY hypermarkets in France (headquartered in Templemars) and 107 stores in Poland (Castorama’s strongest-performing geography, gaining market share consistently), with stores typically running 6,000 to 12,000 square meters in suburban locations near major French and Polish cities. The brand competes most directly with Adeo Group’s Leroy Merlin in France and with Leroy Merlin Polska in Poland, and benefits in the UK and Ireland from competitor Homebase’s November 2024 administration (which removed approximately 70 stores and £300 million of addressable DIY market). For mall operators, Castorama is a large-format DIY anchor counterparty for retail park, power center, and mixed-use development positions rather than enclosed mall mainline placements, with leasing decisions routed through Castorama France’s Templemars commercial team and Castorama Poland’s Warsaw organization, each operating semi-autonomously under Kingfisher plc’s London headquarters strategic framework.