Kingfisher posts sales rise as strong seasonal performance powers B&Q

Kingfisher – which also owns French business Castorama, which also trades in Poland – notched up a 2.2% constant currency group sales advance to £3.31bn in the first quarter.

B&Q’s sales rose 7.9% like for like to £1.05bn in the period to April 30 and stablemate Screwfix achieved a 2.9% increase, taking the rise in total sales in the UK and Ireland to 6.2%.

However like-for-likes in France and Poland fell 3.2%.

Kingfisher chief executive Thierry Garnier said: “We have made a good start to the year with… market share gains in all key regions and further progress in our strategic priorities.

“Our UK banners performed particularly well, driven by strong seasonal sales and growth in trade and e-commerce. We have successfully completed the conversion of eight former Homebase stores, all of which will be operating under the B&Q banner by the end of May. France delivered sequential improvement, outperforming challenging market conditions, while Poland, as expected, experienced short-term volatility due to geopolitical factors.

“It is still early in the year and consumer sentiment remains mixed across our markets. We are focused on executing our strategic growth priorities, maintaining discipline on margin and costs, and driving shareholder returns. We are confident in delivering our full year guidance.”

The retailer said that there was a postivie mix impact on the average selling price because of volume and transaction growth driven by seasonal categories, and that retail price inflation was flat.

Ecommerce sales rose 9.3%, bringing penetration to 20%.