Kingfisher profits drop amid poor international performance

Kingfisher has seen its pre-tax profits drop 25% to £568m for the year ended 31 January, down from £758m the year prior.

The company has put this drop down to poor international sales specifically in France and Poland.

As a result, the company is now predicting full year profits of between £490m and £550m, below the analysts average forecast of £560m.

Elsewhere, group sales dipped 1.8% to £12.9bn, with a 3% increase in UK and Ireland helping to partially compensate for the almost 5% drop in French sales.

Despite this the company is still pushing ahead with its UK expansion plans as 40 Screwfix stores are set to open this year.

Thierry Garnier, chief executive, said: “Despite all the macroeconomic and consumer challenges in our markets over the past year, we have stayed focused on our customers and our long-term strategy.

“In France, where the market has been impacted by low consumer confidence, we have made significant adjustments to the cost base and started to embed ecommerce marketplace and trade customer initiatives similar to those successfully implemented in the UK.”

He added: “In the short term, while repairs, maintenance and renovation activity on existing homes continue to support resilient demand, we are cautious on the overall market outlook for 2024 due to the lag between housing demand and home improvement demand.

“Against this backdrop we will remain agile and focused on what is within our control – leveraging our strategy to deliver market share growth, driving productivity gains, and managing our costs and cash effectively.”