Leroy Merlin repeats maintaining his activity in Russia, despite Ukraine and Zelensky's appeal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged, on Wednesday before the French Parliament, French companies established in Russia to stop supporting the Russian "war machine" and to leave this country.

He notably pointed the finger at Renault, but also Auchan and Leroy Merlin, two brands owned by the Mulliez family.

If Renault, in which the French state is a shareholder, has announced that it is withdrawing from Russia, Adeo, the holding company of Leroy Merlin, does not intend to leave the country.

“The decision to maintain our activity in Russia is a decision that is not easy,” Adeo explained in a press release.

The company has been under fire from critics since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

On Monday, employees of the Ukrainian branch of the brand had asked Leroy Merlin, as well as the other brands of the Mulliez family association (AFM) present in Russia, Auchan and Decathlon, to cease their activities there, while A Leroy Merlin store, located in the Retroville shopping center in northwest kyiv, was bombed on Sunday evening, killing at least eight people.

In France but also abroad, demonstrations took place in front of the group's stores.

Abroad, criticism is also numerous and calls for a boycott have multiplied on social networks.

The Polish public radio announced that it had "decided to break its advertising cooperation with the French brand Leroy Merlin and to no longer broadcast its advertisements on all its airwaves".

Russia, the brand's second largest market behind France

Despite this difficult position to hold, the DIY brand puts forward several arguments.

Initially, Leroy Merlin, like Auchan, claimed to have an “employer responsibility vis-à-vis its 45,000 employees and their families who have contributed for 18 years to the construction of Leroy Merlin Russia.

And to add: “We have no reason to condemn our Russian teams for a war that they did not choose.

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Read alsoDanone, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin… Why these large companies have not left Russia

Even if this is less highlighted, the sign knows that it can lose very big by leaving the country.

Russia is the second market behind France and represents more than 18% of its activity with its 112 stores located in 56 cities.

In 2021, Auchan has 255 stores and Decathlon, 61 points of sale.

In 2021, Auchan and Leroy Merlin were in the top 10 foreign companies to have earned the most revenue in Russia.

"Closing the company overnight, closing our stores, would simply be an abandonment considered as a premeditated bankruptcy, therefore illegal, opening the way to an expropriation, which would strengthen Russia's financial means", further declares Adeo, who says apply “all the sanctions implemented by the countries of the European Union”, and respect “all the directives of the French government”.

An argument which is also taken up by TotalEnergies.

However, the two French giants claimed to have cut the taps on future investments.

If Emmanuel Macron asked the brand to leave the Russian market, "it would be different", estimates the general manager of Adeo, Philippe Zimmermann, questioned about a possible request in this direction from the head of state in a daily interview. La Voix du Nord on Wednesday evening.

Expand product offering

In the meantime, on the ground, the brand seems to want to do commercial realpolitik.

Even if authentication could not be formally established, a letter dated March 11, written in Russian and signed by the names of Éric Poulet, deputy general manager of Leroy Merlin Russia, and Anna Goncharova, director in charge of cooperation with suppliers announce that they want to completely replace imported products with local suppliers.

In addition, the brand would have said it was open to expanding its product offering "since some other companies have left the Russian market".

An attitude welcomed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

During an interview granted on March 16 to the Russian television channel RBK TV, he was pleased that “Leroy Merlin remains open unlike Ikea”.