DIY shoppers have been swarming into Kingfisher's stores, despite the impact of poor weather on UK garden furniture sales this summer.
Like-for-like sales across the business leaped by 6.1 per cent in the six months to July 31, boosted by top performance from international stores.
The French division, accounting for a third of global sales, benefited from the launch of a national catalogue at 62-store Brico Depot, helping to increase like-for-like sales by 19 per cent. Comparable sales at 104-strong Castorama grew by 5.3 per cent as customers responded to fresher store interiors and price-oriented marketing.
Other countries also delivered big like-for-like growth, including Poland, up 20.6 per cent; China, up 18.4 per cent; and Italy, up 5.5 per cent.
Kingfisher chief executive Gerry Murphy said: 'More than 60 per cent of Kingfisher's sales growth in the first half came from outside the UK.'
He admitted damp weather resulted in soggy UK garden furniture sales, knocking comparable like-for-likes by 1 per cent, but there was still a like-for-like increase of 3.1 per cent in the UK and Ireland.
Murphy said Kingfisher was pushing into new markets in the UK, setting its sights on the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms sectors. New catalogues had enabled B&Q to offer a further 20,000 lines - a similar number to a standard Warehouse store.
B&Q chief executive Rob Cissell said there was an opportunity to take market share from furniture and interiors specialists such as MFI.
Kingfisher's group retail sales rose nearly 10 per cent to£3.9 billion.
Pre-tax profit climbed 27.1 per cent to£346.3 million.
- Analysis: page 10.
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