Stores abroad also performed better when comparing the like-for-like growth rates. Because outside Germany, the like-for-like increase was 5.1 per cent, but on the home market this was 1.4 per cent. Overall, the Hornbach stores - at the end of the financial year there were 155 of them, 98 of which are in Germany - achieved an increase in sales of 3.0 per cent on a comparable area.
Hornbach management is satisfied with business in most countries. However that does not apply to the commitment in Sweden - even if they are still earning money there, emphasises Albrecht Hornbach, chairman of the executive board at Hornbach Management AG, general partner of Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA. Meanwhile, the eight countries outside Germany are contributing 45 per cent to the Hornbach DIY store sales.
A focus of investment in the past financial year was digitalisation. "No other company in the industry drives digitisation forward - cross-channel and with sophisticated interplay with stationary branch stores - so vehemently and with so much effort," said Albrecht Hornbach at the presentation of the annual statement in Frankfurt. The company has put more than € 50 m into the development of this line of business. Meanwhile there are not only Hornbach online shops on the Internet in Germany, but also in five other European countries which are contributing to the increase in sales with above-average growth rates. The three remaining national companies will be putting their shops online by the end of 2017.