Black Country and Staffordshire B&Q stores at risk amid decision to shut 60 outlets

But owner Kingfisher, Europe's biggest DIY retailing group, says it simply has too much shop space in the UK and it needs to offload stores that are not making a profit. The result will be the closure of 60 of B&Q's 360 shops.

The move will cost Kingfisher around £350 million, largely because of stores tied to 'onerous' leases. The fact that new boss, Veronique Laury is prepared to spend that amount of money indicates how serious she is about the need to shake-up the business.

Many believe the problem lies in a decline in the DIY market, as more families rent and are less inclined towards home improvements.

And the decision by rival Home Retail Group to close a quarter of its Homebase DIY stores last October added to that belief.

The Homebase cuts, which will see around 80 stores closed by early 2018, followed a company review as the threat of online rivals and the rise of a generation 'less skilled in DIY projects' threatened a sector already squeezed by the economic downturn over the last few years.

But Ms Laury denied that the UK DIY market was in decline and said the store closure plan reflected a desire to re-invigorate the company's UK offer. She added that it had long been clear that B&Q had too many stores in its estate.

The group wants to cut about 15 per cent of surplus space. Staff at Southampton, Dundee, Baums Lane in Mansfield, Stetchford Road in Birmingham, Hyde in Greater Manchester and Barnsley have been told their stores are closing, but the locations of the other shops have not been disclosed.

B&Q also has stores in Wolverhampton, Wednesbury, Halesowen, Kidderminster, Stafford and Cannock.

The company said it believes it can meet local customer needs from fewer stores.

And it expects to offset the B&Q jobs impact by opening a similar number of shops at sister business Screwfix, which serves plumbers, electricians and other tradespeople as well as DIY enthusiasts, and through redeployment elsewhere in the business.

The changes were announced as the company posted a 7.5 per cent drop in annual profits to £675m after sales fell by 1.4 per cent to £11 billion in the year to January 31.

That was due to the state of trading trading in France, where Kingfisher's Castorama and Brico Depot chains were hit by the weak economy and low consumer confidence.

B&Q UK & Ireland's total sales were actually up 1.9 per cent to £3.7 billion in the financial year, with sales of outdoor seasonal and building products up four per cent. Profits were 16 per cent higher at £276m.

In contrast, profits in France were 12 per cent lower at £349m as Kingfisher announced it will also close a small number of stores in the country.

Kingfisher chief executive Veronique Laury, who took over from Sir Ian Cheshire in December, said the UK and Ireland closure plan was one of a number of 'sharp' decisions being taken by the FTSE 100 company.

She added: "Home improvement is a great market with huge potential and Kingfisher has a strong position within it with further scope to grow in a sustainable way. However, it is clear to me that we need to organise ourselves very differently to unlock our potential."

Another 'sharp' decision seems to have been the exit of Kevin O'Byrne, boss of the B&Q business, which was also announced yesterday.

Other plans include cutting back on some of the 393,000 products sold across the company.

Brewin Dolphin analyst Nicla Di Palma said: "This new strategy makes sense. In the UK, Kingfisher over-expanded in the late 90s and early 2000s and now finds itself with too many stores and very long leases.

"Exiting now means better industry structure and pricing power. We also think unifying the offer across countries makes sense: consumers want similar things in different countries."

The announcement of the store cuts came the day after Kingfisher revealed that its £200m bid to French rival Mr Bricolage had been dropped because of opposition from a major shareholder at the target company.