The home improvement retailer Kingfisher has reported a 29.5% fall in first-half underlying profit but said it was seeing resilience in outdoor and ‘big-ticket’ category sales trends despite the cost of living crisis.
The group which owns b&Q and Screwfix in Britain saw its adjusted pre-tax profits at the DIY retailer fell to £474 million in the six months to 31 July, down from £677 million a year earlier.
Sales slipped by 4.1 % to £6.8 billion, however, the DIY group flagged that sales were still “significantly” ahead of pre-pandemic levels. Like-for-likes were up 16.6% on a three-year basis.
Kingfisher chief executive Thierry Garnier said: “Kingfisher has delivered a very resilient first half of sales. While facing very strong comparatives from the prior year as well as a more challenging environment.
“Looking to the months ahead, although trading in the year to date has been in line with our expectations, we remain vigilant against the more uncertain economic outlook for the second half.
“We are therefore focussed on delivering value to our customers at a time when they need it most. You can expect continued strong execution, with a focus on growing sales and market share, effective management of our gross margin, and alignment of our costs and inventories to market conditions.”
He added that the group had made an “encouraging” start to trading in its third quarter, with like-for-like sales to September 17 down 0.7% on the year but up 15.2% on a three-year basis.
