Kingfisher
| Industry:retail | ISIN:GB0033195214 | Country:UK | CRR:C+ |
Company Profile:
Kingfisher is an international home improvement retailer offering home improvement products through a network of retail sites, located mainly in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. The company principally operates through its main retail brands B&Q, Castorama, Brico Depot and Screwfix Direct. Kingfisher also has a 21% interest in, and strategic alliance with Hornbach Holding, a do-it-yourself (DIY) warehouse retailer, which operates stores in Germany and in seven neighbouring countries.
Strengths/weaknesses profile:
Strengths:
- group-wide policy on ensuring freedom of association, including information on measures in countries where no independent labour union may be established
- comprehensive measures to promote products that provide an added value regarding ecological or social aspects
- comprehensive efforts in ensuring the procurement of timber from legal and sustainable sources
- comprehensive measures regarding the implementation of concrete strategies and formal systems to address climate change
- increase in resource efficiency in recent years, e.g. regarding energy and water consumption per net sales
Weaknesses:
- lack of information regarding measures to reduce the environmental footprint of textiles
Reasons for inclusion in the Index:
In recent years, DIY stores have been widely criticised for selling timber from unknown sources. Where the origins of timber are unclear, there is a risk that it has been felled illegally. In many countries, this practice threatens forest stocks and thus also biodiversity. Kingfisher has set itself the goal that by 2010/2011 it would be obtaining 75 per cent of its timber from recycled materials or from forests certified according to sustainability criteria. In 2007, this was already the case for 69% of all timber sold by Kingfisher. Of this, 42% came from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified forests. In 2011, this goal had been exceeded and was already the case for 81% of all timber sold by Kingfisher. Of this, 55% came from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified forests.