In a deal struck last night the parent company of B&Q and Screwfix sold its 21.2% stake in German DIY chain Hornbach for £195m.
The deal was announced as the company released its preliminary results for 2013/14. Kingfisher's pre-tax profit was up 4.1% to £744m.

Sir Ian Cheshire said of the deal: "The challenge was that because a lot of the shares were unlisted we only had really the Hornbach family who would want to buy, so we sold the unlisted shares back to Hornbach. We then did a deal through a bank to sell to European investors the remaining shares.

"We have a very friendly relationship with Hornbach, there are no issues, it's just there was no point in being stuck at 21% and having £195m tied up, so we've moved on. And as we have plans to open in Germany and we are already in Romania, we would be competing with Hornbach. It just made sense."

The stake was acquired for £109m in 2001.

Kingfisher has plans to enter the German DIY market by opening four Screwfix stores during the next 12 months.

The company has also started scouting China for a Chinese strategic partner, so it can continue its plan to open B&Q stores across China.

The company announced in 2007 it had plans to open 130 B&Q stores in China over the next five years, something which it has not yet achieved.

Mr Cheshire reiterated that Kingfisher's solo approach to entering China had not failed, but that having a Chinese partner was the way forward.

He added: "With the right partner we could do something really interesting in China."