Kingfisher Group has announced that it will close around 60 B&Q stores – 15% of its UK space – as part of a number of “sharp decisions” as it reorganises the company.

The closures come as Kingfisher reported a 1.4% drop in turnover for the year ended 31 January, 2015, and a 7.5% fall in pre-tax profits, despite sales in the UK and Ireland growing 5.5%.

Véronique Laury, Kingfisher’s chief executive officer, who took over the role in December 2014, said: “Home improvement is a great market with huge potential and Kingfisher has a strong position within it. However, it is clear to me that we need to organise ourselves very differently in order to unlock that potential. This will involve taking what is essentially a locally managed set of businesses and creating instead a single, unified company where customer needs come first.”

Ms Laury also said that Kingfisher would develop unified garden and bathroom businesses.

Kevin O’Byrne, chief executive for B&Q UK & Ireland, will step down on 15 May, 2015.