European Electricals Base Strengthened

Kingfisher PLC
10 November 1999





             KINGFISHER PLC STRENGTHENS EUROPEAN ELECTRICALS BASE
 - Kingfisher plc today announces acquisition in electricals market, making it
                           number one in Belgium  -


Kingfisher plc the leading European retailer, today announces the acquisition
of the business of Hugo Van Praag, Belgium's number two electrical group.  The
newly acquired business will be merged with Kingfisher's current Belgian
operation, New Vanden Borre, to form the largest electricals group in Belgium.

Hugo Van Praag had a turnover of BEF 2.2 bn (£37m/Euro53m) in 1998.   The book
value of the net assets being acquired at 31 December 1998 was approximately
BEF 360m (£6m/Euro9m).

Commenting on the acquisition, Kingfisher's Group Chief Executive, Sir
Geoffrey Mulcahy said:
                                        
'This acquisition is another steady step to achieving our goal of being the
electrical market leader in Europe.  Our increased strength in Belgium will
add to our electrical growth strategies already in place in the UK, France,
Germany and the Netherlands. '
                                       


For further information:
Kingfisher plc [phone]

Media Enquiries:
Gwen Gober, Director of Corporate Affairs
Tel:           [phone]

Andrew Dowler, Financial Dynamics
Tel:           [phone]

Broker/Institutional Enquiries:
Keith Williams, Director of Investor Relations
Direct line:   [phone]

Web-site address   www.kingfisher.co.uk



Notes to editors

* Kingfisher is now the third largest electrical retailer in Europe.  The
  Group's operation consists of Comet in the UK, New Vanden Borre in Belgium,
  Darty and BUT in France, ProMarkt in Germany, BCC in the Netherlands and
  Electric City in Singapore.

* The first half year results of Kingfisher's electrical sector operations
  (reported, September 1999) reflected the impact of the substantial growth by
  acquisition achieved last year in France, Germany and Singapore, resulting  
  in sales growth of 50.1%.  Like-for-like sales growth of the sector was 2.4%
  while, on a pro-forma basis, all store sales growth was 7.3%.  Electrical
  sector profits totalled £51.3 million, an increase of 10.1% over the        
  previous year.

* New Vanden Borre is focused on the retail of domestic electrical
  appliances and consumer electronics in Belgium: it currently employs 260
  people with 20 stores.  The merger with Hugo Van Praag will see these
  numbers increase to 546 and 50 respectively.  In 1998 New Vanden Borre      
  reported like for like sales growth of 14 % compared to market growth of 6%.