Leroy-Merlin announced on Friday March 24 its intention to sell its 113 stores in Russia, the DIY giant’s second largest market after France, to “local management”. This operation “should make it possible to preserve the jobs of the 45,000 employees and to sustain the company’s activity”, explains Adeo, parent company of the giant of the sale of DIY equipment, which is one of the main foreign employers in Russia.
The sale, presented as the result of “work started several months ago in compliance with applicable regulations”, will be subject to the approval of the competent Russian authorities, specifies the French group owned by the Mulliez family in a press release.
Several of its brands remain very present in Russia, despite the military intervention in Ukraine. Leroy-Merlin’s 113 Russian stores represent 18 to 20% of the company’s total turnover, the Mulliez family group said.
A “full-fledged weapon”
Referring then to the risk of “expropriation” in the event of withdrawal, a threat agitated by the local authorities, Adeo announced last year the maintenance of its presence in Russia but the suspension of its investments. Auchan, another commercial brand belonging to the Mulliez family galaxy, achieves more than 10% of its sales in Russia, where the brand has 230 stores, according to figures from the summer of 2022.
In mid-February, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Auchan of having become a “full-fledged weapon of Russian aggression”, after the publication of an investigation by Le Monde according to which the group had contributed to Moscow’s war effort.
Many French and Western groups have left Russia since the start of the war, despite the high cost of the operation. Societe Generale thus separated last year from its subsidiary Rosbank, which resulted in a charge of more than 3 billion euros in its accounts.
