Kingfisher is the largest home improvement retailer in the UK and third largest in the world, behind US retailers The Home Depot and Lowe’s. The British company has headquarters in London and offices located in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin. Through online and in-store channels Kingfisher supplies home improvement products to nearly six million customers each week.

An impressive brand portfolio including B&Q, Castorama, Brico Dépôt and Screwfix operate in over 1,300 stores across ten European countries as follows:

B&Q (UK, Ireland), Brico Dépôt (France, Spain, Portugal and Romania), Castorama (France, Poland and Russia), Koctas – 50:50 Joint venture (Turkey), Screwfix (UK, Germany),

Kingfisher has also closed and sold some of its well-known operations over the years: Woolworths (June 2001 – Dec 2008), Comet (July 2003 – Dec 2012), Superdrug (1987- July 2001).

With ownership of over 1,200 properties from apartments to hotels Kingfisher is also the third largest commercial property developer in the UK. Kingfisher trades on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and forms part of the UK 100 Index.

In 1982 Kingfisher was founded as Paternoster Stores Ltd in order to buy out the Woolworths chain. In 1983 it became Woolworth Holdings PLC. B&Q was already owned by Woolworths and acquisitions such as Superdrug and Comet saw a vast expansion.

In 1989 the decision was made to rename Woolworth Holdings, Kingfisher plc and the company branched out with acquisitions across Europe including Castorama and Wegert. In July 1999 an attempt at taking over Asda was made but the acquisition was completed by US giant, Walmart.

In the early 2000’s numerous factors led to the decision to focus solely upon DIY. In 2001 a hostile struggle for control and the subsequent share price resulted in it being necessary to sell parts of the company. This included high street chain Woolworths and the demerger of the electricals portion of the company forming Kesa Electricals.