Coronavirus: Kingfisher UK sales inch up as store closures across Europe bite

In a set of unaudited accounts up to January 31, 2020, published today, Kingfisher reported UK and Ireland sales in excess of £5.1bn – a 1% increase on the previous year.

This was driven by the growth in the UK of Screwfix, which saw a 9.4% uptick in sales to £1.8bn. Kingfisher’s other UK brand B&Q, by contrast, saw sales slump 3.1% to £3.2bn.

Total group sales were down 0.8% in constant currency, while like-for-like sales were down 1.5%.

Kingfisher has been hit hard over the last month by the enforced closure of its 221 stores in France and 28 stores in Spain, both of which have been hit hard by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic spreading through Europe.

The DIY giant said it would be keeping its UK stores open for the foreseeable future “serving the needs of our communities for electricity, heating, plumbing and other essentials”.

In terms of current trading since February 1, like-for-like sales across the group were up 7.6%, whereas in the first two weeks of March sales continued to be positive before the coronavirus-enforced store closures.

In the third week of March, sales in the UK continue to be positive. Kingfisher also reported a “significant” boost in online sales and said it would be increasing its ecommerce capacity in all markets.

Kingfisher said that in China, where the pandemic began, “nearly all of our vendor’s factories have reopened”, and over 85% of orders have only a month-long delay from when they were ordered.

The DIY giant said it would not be issuing a dividend and confirmed it had delayed the publication of its full set of preliminary results due to restrictions from the Financial Conduct Authority.

Chief executive Thierry Garnier said: “We are committed to supporting our communities and governments to manage the Covid-19 pandemic. We are very conscious of the anxiety that the outbreak is causing for our colleagues and customers, and we’ll do everything we can to support them. At the same time, we are working hard to minimise the impact on our business and financial performance.

“Since joining the business in late September 2019, my priorities have been to build the executive team, stabilise our operational performance and prepare a new plan. We have a strong new team in place. We ended financial year 2019/20 in better shape after a challenging first nine months, returning the group to positive like-for-like sales growth in Q4, as well as for the start of financial year 2020/21.

“These are unprecedented times. We’ll get through them and, when we do, we are as a team committed to returning Kingfisher to growth.”