The company has been suffering from weakness in key international markets such as Greece and Romania and a shift in strategy at the Praktiker Germany business has also hit sales. "Now, everything depends on how fast the repositioning of the Praktiker brand will translate into rising sales and when the main countries of Praktiker's international portfolio will stage a recovery," it said in a statement on Friday.

For the first quarter the group reported sales down 11 percent at 666.4 million euros ($988.7 million) and a loss before interest, tax and amortisation of 71.6 million.