Kingfisher hammered by snow in first quarter

B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher was hammered by bad weather in February and March, with like-for-like sales down 4% but management still confident about the underlying turnaround of the business.

Chief executive Véronique Laury said the group continued to see tangible effects of her One Kingfisher plan, with around 40% of product ranges unified across the UK, France and Europe and gross margins consequently on the up.

"Sales of these ranges, excluding outdoor products, are up, and we expect to grow the full year group gross margin, after clearance costs," she said.

Sales elsewhere saw a considerable impact on weather related categories and temporary UK store closures, with a 3-4% impact at group level, with around a 6% fall for B&Q, 2% on Screwfix and 4% for Castorama France.

Total group sales of £2.83bn were down 1.2% at the reported level or 2.5% lower if taking out the benefits of currency swings. At the LFL level UK sales declined 5.4%, with B&Q down 9% and Screwfix seeing its lowest growth for some time of only 3.6%, with France down 3.9% and the rest of Europe falling 0.5% despite growth in Poland, Germany and Romania.

Laury said Kingfisher was still on track to deliver the third year of strategic milestones from the transformation plan, including the final year of the unified IT platform roll-out into Poland and France's Brico Dépôt due to start soon.

"Market conditions continue to be mixed. The UK is uncertain, as demonstrated by recent weak retail sales data; France is encouraging, but volatile; whilst Poland continues to be supportive," she added.

"We remain confident about delivering the business and customer benefits of our transformation plan, supported by the continued hard work and expertise of our colleagues."