The DIY chain Hornbach saw strong growth in the first quarter of its fiscal year, which begins March 1, but it’s leaving its earnings forecasts for the year unchanged. Sales grew 18.4 percent to nearly €1.5bn, marking considerable improvement from a year ago when it pulled in just €1.2bn. It attributed the growth to strong sales both in Germany and in its foreign locations. So while the outbreak of the pandemic had a predictably negative impact on business in the first part of the quarter, good weather and pent-up demand combined to produced 36 percent sales growth in May. March sales had fallen 2 percent, but even in April the company achieved 17 percent growth. Judging by its earnings announcement, the company isn’t changing its annual forecast just yet because its board said it’s still too difficult to predict how the Covid-19 pandemic will develop over the rest of the year. But it also reflects cautious optimism that end-of-year results will be similar to last year’s.
