Kingfisher announces slightly higher sales in the 1st quarter and maintains its objectives

The British DIY store group Kingfisher, owner of Castorama and Brico Dépôt in France, saw its sales increase by 0,8% in the first quarter and confirmed that it expected a drop in its annual net profit.

The owner of the Castorama, Brico Depot, B&Q and Screwfix brands - which has just over 1.500 stores mainly located in the UK, Ireland, France and Poland - raked in £3,27 billion in revenue business in its first quarter ended April 30, according to a statement released Wednesday.

"Sales of our + core business + and + project + categories, which represent more than 80% of our sales, continue to be resilient", commented the group's general manager Thierry Garnier, quoted in the press release.

In the United Kingdom and France, the "exceptionally bad weather in the spring impacted sales of seasonal categories over the quarter, and more particularly those of products in the garden and landscaping categories", with a drop in turnover (in comparable area) of 11,3% on these products, it is specified.

“However, we have observed an improvement in activity since the beginning of April and we anticipate a catch-up effect of part of the demand with the improvement in weather conditions. Our stock remains healthy and, overall, is decreasing, in accordance our expectations," said Mr. Garnier.

He stressed that the brand "continues to open stores in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France" and highlighted "the increase in online sales up 4,7%" over the quarter.

"As commodity prices and transportation costs continue to ease, we expect lower inflation on our commodity purchases in the second half of the year," Kingfisher's chief executive also said.

The group indicates that it is "maintaining" its objectives for the current financial year: in March, by announcing a 44% drop in its net profit for the 2022-23 financial year, it had indicated that it anticipated a further decline in its net profit for 2023 /24 due to uncertainty around consumer purchases and rising costs.

He thus takes on board an "analyst consensus" which expects adjusted pre-tax income of 634 million pounds for the current year, against 758 million in the previous one.