Home Depot said it has no current plans to buy Kingfisher, Europe’s biggest home-improvement firm, despite weeks of rumors that the home improvement giant was seriously interested.
According to a Reutersreport, Home Depot will focus its global growth mainly on Canada and Mexico, its chairman said. “I couldn’t think of a dumber time to make an international acquisition with the euro at an all-time high,” Home Depot Chairman Robert Nardelli was quoted as saying to reporters after the company concluded its meeting with analysts. “Just based on exchange, you’re going to be paying a premium.” Shares of Kingfisher have risen in recent weeks on speculation that Home Depot, which has nearly 1,700 stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico, would seek to purchase the British home improvement company, which operates stores in Europe and Asia.