Kingfisher will sell its flagship site in Northern Ireland, the Woolworths store in the heart of Belfast, as part of a £614 million sterling (€970 million) deal to offload 182 high street properties.

The sale is part of Kingfisher's strategy to demerge its Woolworths stores from its remaining business portfolio, which includes B&Q and Comet in the UK and Castorama and Darty in France. Kingfisher has sold the properties to a consortium made up of London & Regional Properties and Goldman Sachs Whitehall Fund.

The multimillion pound deal includes 152 Woolworths stores and 30 Superdrug stores. Kingfisher plans to float Woolworths, which is valued at between £400 million to £500 million on the London Stock Exchange. The shares are expected to start trading on August 28th.