Kesko DIY increased profitability significantly

The Building & technical trade division of Kesko has transformed into a growth and profit engine for the corporation. Especially the international operations led by Norway as well as the B2B arm have been driving the growth.

For a long time one could have described Kesko as a grocery company, which also has a DIY arm. However, that arm was smaller and significantly less profitable.

Today, the DIY segment is approaching the grocery division in terms of revenues. DIY provides 40 % of revenues to Kesko compared to 52 % from the grocery division.

Bigger change can be seen in profits. The DIY segment is responsible of up to 43 % of profits. In 2015, when Mikko Helander started as CEO, the Building & technical trade was responsible of 23 % of Kesko profits. Quite a change in six years.

The Building & technical trade division is also a some kind of an outlier in Finnish retailing. It is a Finnish company that has been able to succeed in the other Nordic countries. There are never too many internationally successful Finnish retailers.