B&Q owner gets profit boost

The owner of B&Q has reported a better-than-expected rise in first-half profit but said it was cautious on the second-half backdrop in both the UK and France.

Home improvement retailer Kingfisher, which runs B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other countries, said it made an underlying pretax profit of £440m in the six months to July 31.

That compared to analysts’ average forecast of £426m and £436m made in the same period last year.

The outcome reflected solid growth at Screwfix and in Poland offset by weak French markets and disruption from a restructuring plan.

Kingfisher said although it was cautious on the outlook it was still “comfortable” with full-year consensus underlying earnings per share expectations.

CEO Véronique Laury said: “As planned, this first half has seen a significant increase in the level of transformation activity. Changes are now visible in our stores with new product ranges being well received by customers.

“We are also changing our ways of working alongside the continued rollout of our unified IT platform. The pace is quick and impactful and is reflected in our performance.”

She added: “Looking across our markets, we have seen solid growth at Screwfix and Poland, offset by continued weaker sales in France and some business disruption, principally reflecting product availability and clearance. We are aware of and are acting on the causes of this disruption, which we are confident will ease.