• Underlying pre-tax profit up 13.5%
  • Like-for-likes up 3.3%
  • Total sales up 6.8%

B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher has reported rising half-year sales and profits as its strategic initiative, ONE Kingfisher, takes effect. 

Bq exterior 07

B&Q’s like-for-likes were positive

B&Q’s sales rose 4.6% like-for-like; online sales rocketed 39%

Underlying group pre-tax profit was up 13.5% to £436m while adjusted pre-tax profit was up 8.9% to £418m, the retailer said today. This was driven by profit growth in the UK and Poland.

Group like-for-likes, on a constant currency basis, were up 3.3% in the six months to July 31.

Total sales were up 6.8% to £5.7bn on a reported basis and up 2.7% on a constant currency basis.

Individual markets

In the UK and Ireland, sales rose 3.1%, up 6.7% on a like-for-like basis, to £2.6bn.

B&Q’s total sales declined 1.9% following store closures.

However, sales rose 4.6% on a like-for-like basis, benefiting from sales transferring to other stores. Online sales rocketed 39%.

Screwfix continued to perform strongly, growing total sales by 24%, 14.7% on a like-for-like basis, to £612m.

Kingfisher added that there had been “no clear evidence of an impact on demand” following the Brexit vote.

In France, Kingfisher remained “cautious” as Castorama sales declined 1.1%, down 2.1% on a like-for-like basis, to £1.18bn.

Brico Dépôt’s total sales increased 2.1%, but like-for-likes were down 0.9%, to £987m.

One Kingfisher

The group said that its five-year strategic plan, ONE Kingfisher, was “on track” and that it had reached several key milestones in the first year, such as a unified IT platform in all B&Q stores.

Chief executive Véronique Laury said: “It has been a productive first half. We have delivered a good ‘business as usual’ result with both sales and profit growth. Performance has been driven by Poland and the UK, especially Screwfix, and a stable profit performance in France.

“Looking longer term, we are starting to build solid foundations to enable us to deliver our five-year transformation, which is our key growth driver. We are making good progress on our strategic milestones for this first year and we are on track.

“The level of transformation activity will increase significantly; however, given the expertise and energy of our colleagues we continue to feel confident about the challenges ahead.”

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