Extraordinary general meeting on Castorama takeover

Kingfisher has invited shareholders to an extraordinary general meeting on 7 June 2002. The stakeholders are to express their view on the offer of € 67 per share to the minority shareholders of Castorama. Francis Mackay, chairman of Kingfisher, made it clear in an interview with the French newspaper La Tribune that, should the takeover be successful, Kingfisher intends to keep on the Castorama management team and the company’s headquarters in Lille. “We want to stimulate growth at Castorama and create new jobs,” he said. The information from Jean-Hugues Loyez, head of Castorama, on the group’s higher ROCE (Return On Capital Employed) compared with B&Q, he termed incorrect.