Kingfisher lowers profit guidance amid flat Q3 sales
However, ‘big-ticket’ categories, which make up 16% of sales, continued to be soft, though signs of improvement were noted
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Kingfisher has lowered its full-year profit guidance after posting flat sales of £3.2bn for the three months ended 31 October, a 0.6% decline.
As a result of this, the company expects its adjusted PBT guidance to be in the range of c.£510m to £540m, previously c.£510m to £550m.
The B&Q and Screwfix owner stated that its sales performance was solid in August and September.
However, October saw a slowdown, driven by uncertainty in the UK and France related to government budgets and adverse weather conditions.
In the UK and Ireland Screwfix delivered strong results, with like-for-like sales rising 1.8% and sales growth of 4.6%, while B&Q experienced a decline of 1.0% in sales, with a LFL dip of 0.6%.
Alongside this, TradePoint, B&Q’s trade-focused business. performed well, with like-for-like sales growth of 4.9%.
Its core categories, representing 69% of sales, showed improved trends, driven by repair, maintenance, and renovation activity.
However, ‘big-ticket’ categories, which make up 16% of sales, continued to be soft, though signs of improvement were noted.
Thierry Garnier, CEO, said: “Overall trading in the third quarter was resilient. Improved performance in August and September was offset by the impact of increased consumer uncertainty in the UK and France in October, related to government budgets in both countries.
“All our banners in the UK, France and Poland performed in line or ahead of their respective markets, with particularly strong market share gains at Screwfix. We continued to see improved volume trends in our core categories, supported by repairs, maintenance and existing home renovation. As expected, sales of our ‘big-ticket’ categories remained soft, although we are seeing early signs of improvement.”
He added: “We continue to deliver rapid progress against our strategic and operational objectives. Ecommerce sales penetration increased by 1.3%pts to 18.8% in Q3, supported by the continued strong growth of our marketplaces.
“In Q3 our trade sales penetration reached 16.5% across the Group excluding Screwfix, up nearly 3%pts from the start of the year, as we continued to develop our trade proposition, including the launch of TradePoint’s first mobile app last month. We are also making strong progress with our plan to restructure and modernise Castorama France’s lowest performing stores, having selected partners for our first two franchised stores.”
