HOME improvement chain B&Q is to close as many as 60 stores over the next two years as part of a restructuring of its UK and Ireland business.

Parent company Kingfisher, which also owns Screwfix, plans to axe about 15 per cent of surplus space as a result of the review of its 360-strong B&Q estate.

This follows the posting of a 7.5 per cent drop in annual profits to £675 million after sales fell by 1.4 per cent to £11 billion in the year to January 31.

Kingfisher, which also trades in France through Castorama and Brico Depot, has already agreed to sell a controlling stake in its loss-making China business as it looks to focus on its core European market.

Chief executive Veronique Laury, who took over from Sir Ian Cheshire in December, said the closure plan was one of a number of “sharp” decisions being taken by the FTSE 100 company.

Other plans include cutting back on some of the 393,000 products sold across the company, particularly as only 7,000 – amounting to seven per cent of sales – are currently sold in at least two of Kingfisher’s operating companies.

The company, which has local stores in Bradford, Keighley and Halifax, will also look to optimise vacant store space and is in discussions with several retailers about sub-letting opportunities.