The British group Kingfisher, owner of the Brico Dépôt and Castorama chains, has reached an agreement for purchase the French home improvement services platform NeedHelp for EUR 10 million in cash.

Kingfisher plc is an international home improvement company with approximately 1,370 shops, supported by a team of 78,000 people.It operates in eight countries across Europe providing home improvement products and services to consumers and trade professionals who shop in our shops and through their e-commerce channels. 

NeedHelp, founded in France in 2014, is an innovative B2B2C online platform that connects customers in need of home improvement help, whether in-store or online, with vetted professional tradespeople and other qualified experts. The acquisition represents an important step forward for one of Kingfisher's key priorities under its recently announced 'Powered by Kingfisher' strategy: building a service-oriented, mobile-first customer experience. 

Following the acquisition, NeedHelp will continue to operate as an independent company and will look to offer its installation capabilities to retail customers across the Home Improvement sector through its open architecture model. Kingfisher is acquiring the company with two objectives, the first is to develop NeedHelp's business in Europe with new and existing retail partners and the second objective is to roll out the platform in the UK and Poland. In the UK, NeedHelp will be able to help B&Q customers who need assistance with their home improvement projects, as well as cooperate with Screwfix's customer base of commercial professionals.