Kingfisher Q1 sales hit £3.3bn

Kingfisher has revealed that it has posted £3.3bn in sales for the three months to 30 April 2023, an increase of 0.8% year on year.

The B&Q and Screwfix owner stated that 18% of sales were affected by poor weather conditions in the spring causing a like for like decrease of 11%.

Overall the UK and Ireland contributed £1.6bn to this sales number with B&Q sales at £980m and Screwfix sales at £610m.

The company saw “good performance” at B&Q in the UK and Ireland given the impact of weather on seasonal sales.

It also stated that it saw strong market share gains and positive like for like at Screwfix.

Kingfisher also opened two new Screwfix stores in France and is targeting up to 85 new stores across the UK, Ireland and France in FY23.

As a result of this the company is confident of hitting its FY23 guidance of a profit before tax of £634m.

Thierry Garnier, CEO, said: “As we move through our key trading season, we are pleased to see that sales in our core and ‘big-ticket’ categories, which make up over 80% of our total sales, are showing continued resilience. The unusually poor spring weather in the UK and France affected our seasonal sales in the quarter, impacting demand for items such as garden and outdoor products.

“We have however seen an improvement in trading since early April, and anticipate
a release of some pent-up demand as the weather continues to improve. Our inventory
remains healthy and, in aggregate, is reducing in line with our expectations.”

He added: “We continue to execute our strategy at pace, making good progress across all our key priorities. Screwfix is trading well and seeing particularly strong demand from trade
customers, with total sales up 6.5%. The business continues to drive its store expansion
plans in the UK, Ireland and France.

“E-commerce sales were another highlight in the quarter, up 4.7%. One of the drivers of this is the continued success of B&Q’s marketplace, which reached 27% of B&Q’s online sales in April, a year after its launch.”