Romania remains a leading market for Praktiker as the do-it-yourself retailer reported overall sales of 108 million EUR for the first half of the year, up by a good 82% year-on-year. In a like-for-like comparison, the result is 31% higher from H1:2006. For April - June 2007, the company reported sales in excess of 64 million EUR.
The company opened the first store include in the 2007 growth plan in April and has scheduled three similar events until the year-end. The average investment in a new store is 8-to-10 million EUR. The company currently has over 2,000 employees in Romania and will hire another 400 for the new stores. The existing network counts 17 stores in Romania.