DIY giant B & Q announced today it is to shut one in six of its least profitable stores after its annual profits fell £75million last year . The home improvement chain is to close as many as 60 of its 360 stores over the next two years as part of a restructuring of its UK and Ireland business . Shares in Kingfisher , which trades as B & Q and Screwfix in the UK , jumped up 16p each - a five per cent rise - when the London Stock Exchange opened this morning . Changes : B & Q is to close as many as 60 of its 360 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 . The move was announced as it posted a 7.5 per cent drop in annual profits to £675million after sales fell by 1.4 per cent to £11billion in the year to January 31 . This is down from 744million in the 2013-14 year . The planned store closures form part of a plan by new Chief Executive Veronique Laury to shake-up the 360-store B & Q business . Kingfisher , which trades as B & Q and Screwfix in Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France , made a pre-tax profit of 675 million pounds in the year to January 31.The results are the first to be presented by Laury , who succeeded Ian Cheshire in December . Veronique Laury said the 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 . ' Other plans include cutting back on some of the 393,000 products sold across the company , particularly as only 7,000 - amounting to 7 per cent of sales - are currently sold in at least two of Kingfisher 's operating companies . The company will also look to optimise vacant store space and is in discussions with several retailers about sub-letting opportunities . Kingfisher said the impact on jobs from the B & Q store closure plan will be broadly neutral as it is opening about 60 outlets under the Screwfix brand , while it will also look to redeploy positions to other parts of the business . Ms Laury denied that the UK DIY market was in decline and said the store closure plan reflected a desire to reinvigorate the company 's UK offer . She added that it had long been clear that B & Q had too many stores in its estate . B & Q UK & Ireland 's total sales were up 1.9 per cent to £3.7 billion in the financial year , with sales of outdoor seasonal and building products up 4 per cent . Profits were 16 per cent higher at £276million . In contrast , profits in France were 12 per cent lower at £349 million due to the impact of weak consumer confidence and a declining housing and construction market . Kingfisher said it will close a small number of stores in the country . It came as Kingfisher , which had a binding agreement to buy French rival Mr Bricolage , was forced to pull out of the £200m deal . The acquisition had been referred to competition authorities because Kingfisher already owns Castorama and Brico Depot in France . While it had the backing of a key shareholder , support was withdrawn by franchisee group the Association Nationale des Promoteurs du Faites Le Vous-Même ( ANPF ) , which holds a 42pc stake in Mr Bricolage . Forty-four of Mr Bricolage 's 500 stores , many of them franchises , would had to have been sold to placate regulators . It has since emerged that today was the deadline for the deal and all parties had to agree if there was an extension .
B & Q will shut one in six of its least profitable stores in next two years . Its annual profits were down £75m to £675m to the end of January . DIY giant will also reduce number of products and sub-let parts of stores .