Kingfisher, the parent company of B&Q and Screwfix, has reported a slight rise in UK sales and flat global sales in an “uncertain” trading environment.
The company reported overall sales of £3.2bn in the twelve weeks to October 31, flat year on year.
Sales in the UK and Ireland rose 1.2 per cent, driven by 4.6 per cent growth at Screwfix and despite a 1.1 per cent drop in sales at B&Q.
Kingfisher said uncertainty ahead of the Autumn budget had dampened UK sales, as well as poor weather in October.
It expects the impact of changes to employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) announced in the budget to be £31m, although it will “offset the impact of wage increases through structural cost reductions and productivity gains”, the company said.
Sales in France continued to weigh on profit, with overall sales down 4.2 per cent on a constant currency basis.
Kingfisher’s performance in other international markets was strong, however, with 3.7 per cent sales growth in Poland and 3.7 per cent growth in Spain and Portugal.
Chief executive Thierry Garnier said: “Overall trading in the third quarter was resilient. Improved performance in August and September was offset by the impact of increased consumer uncertainty in the UK and France in October, related to government budgets in both countries.
“All our banners in the UK, France and Poland performed in line or ahead of their respective markets, with particularly strong market share gains at Screwfix.
“We continued to see improved volume trends in our core categories, supported by repairs, maintenance and existing home renovation. As expected, sales of our ‘big-ticket’ categories remained soft, although we are seeing early signs of improvement.
“Looking towards next year, recent political and macroeconomic developments have layered incremental uncertainty onto the near-term outlook in our markets. And so we continue to focus our energy on what we can control – delivering further market share gains through our key strategic priorities, and managing our retail prices, costs and cash effectively.”
Kingfisher’s shares have benefited from Brits getting into DIY in a bid to save money, up 34.73 per cent this year.