The British company Kingfisher, owner of the Brico Depot chain of stores, has opened, in Cluj-Napoca, the second technology center, after the one in Krakow, Poland, inaugurated in 2022, according to The Times.
The Cluj center reflects the company’s broader vision for the future. It wants to strengthen its in-house data science and software engineering capabilities and reduce reliance on third-party software firms.
The 33 Brico Depôt stores in Romania sold in the third quarter of the year (to 31 October 2023) worth 77 million pounds, a similar level to that of 2021, when sales totaled 78 million pounds, according to the company’s latest financial report.
Kingfisher plc is a British company with approximately 1,900 stores and operations in eight countries in Europe. It owns several retail brands, including B&Q, Castorama, Brico Dépôt, Screwfix, TradePoint and Koçtaş, and over 82,000 employees.
At group level, Kingfisher sales were £3.2bn, down 2.1% on the same period last year or 3.9% on a like-for-like basis.
Brico Depôt Romania, part of the Kingfisher group, entered the Romanian market in 2013, after the acquisition of the Bricostore store chain. Following the acquisition of Praktiker in 2017, Brico Depôt becomes the second player on the DIY market in Romania, after Dedeman, with 33 stores.