Proposed sale of the operations of Darty Turkey

18 December 2013

Proposed sale of the operations of Darty Turkey

Darty plc (the "Group") announces that as part of its Nouvelle Confiance strategy to concentrate on its core businesses it has entered into binding heads of terms with Turkish specialist technology retailer Bimeks to sell the Group's Turkish operations ("Darty Turkey").

Under the heads of terms the Group will transfer its 28 stores and store staff for nominal consideration and transfer the stock of the business for an amount to be agreed following a valuation exercise. This amount will be finalised at completion.

The Group will retain responsibility for closure of the head office and non-store locations and the settlement of all remaining liabilities of the Turkish business. It is anticipated that the overall impact of the proposed transaction will be broadly cash neutral on the Group.

The transaction is subject to, inter alia, the approval of the Turkish competition authority. It is expected that a sale and purchase agreement will be finalised shortly and the transaction will complete by the end of the Group's current financial year.

Alan Parker, Chairman of Darty plc, said:

"I am delighted that we have reached agreement to sell our Turkish business to Bimeks. We have made good progress with the Darty brand in Turkey, but our business today is sub-scale. While the Turkish market is growing and dynamic, we concluded that we could not expect to make significant progress with the business over the coming years without making a further significant investment. This agreement allows us to make further progress in implementing the strategy of focusing on our core businesses.

"We believe that this transaction is in the best interests of both our Turkish employees and our shareholders."

Murat Akgiray, the Founder and Chairman of Bimeks, said:

"I am very pleased that we have reached an agreement to expand our store network and enhance our market position by purchasing Darty Turkey. The store locations and product portfolio will complement those of Bimeks very well. This, together with the recent acquisition of ElectroWorld, supports our multi-channel strategy and our long-term commitment to our investors and customers. We are on track to becoming the leading technology retailer in Turkey."

Enquiries

Analysts

Darty plc

Simon Ward +44 (0) 20 7269 1400

Media

France

Le Public Système

Ségolène de Saint Martin +33 1 41 34 23 31

About Darty Turkey

For the year ending 30 April 2013, the assets being disposed of generated total sales of €120 million and a loss before tax after €6 million of impairment costs of €16 million. The value of the gross assets subject to the transaction, as at 30 April 2013, was €33 million.

About Darty plc

Darty group is a leading multi-channel, service led, electrical retailer operating over 400 stores in six European countries and achieving over 13 per cent of its product sales on the web. It generated annual revenue of over €3.5 billion in 2012/13 through operations in Darty France, Vanden Borre in Belgium, BCC in the Netherlands, Datart in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and Darty Turkey. Its ordinary shares are listed with the UK Listing Authority and trade on the market for listed securities on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol DRTY.L. It is also listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris.

For further information, please visit the group's website, www.dartygroup.com.

About Bimeks

Bimeks is a Turkish electrical retailer offering information technology products, consumer electronics, white goods and small home appliances to its customers through 108 stores in Turkey. Bimeks is one of the country's leading and pioneering brands with a turnover TL 494 million in 2012 and total sales volume growing at an annual average rate of 30% over the last 8 years. Bimeks aims to reach a total of 160 stores in 81cities by the end of 2015. The majority stake is held by the Akgiray Family. Bimeks is the first listed electronics retail company on the İstanbul Stock Exchange.