B&Q owner reveals 60% sales increase - but predicts post-lockdown dip

The owner of a UK home improvement company has revealed that its sales grew by more than 60 per cent in the first quarter of the year.

Kingfisher, which owns B&Q and Screwfix, saw like-for-like total sales increase by 64.2 per cent to £3,448m in the three months ending on 30 April.

Following the increase, the group has upped its predictions for the first half’s pre-tax profits, estimating results in the mid-to-high teens.

However, it said that it expects demand to drop in the second half by 5 to 15 per cent, due to the uncertainty around the country’s economy and a decrease in people staying at home.

Thierry Garnier, CEO of Kingfisher, said: “I am extremely grateful to all our colleagues for their continuous hard work and flexibility, enabling our banners to remain trading safely during these difficult times.

“The group delivered strong sales growth in the first quarter, with LFL sales up 64 per cent and up by 23 per cent on a two-year basis.

“This is a testament to the efforts of our colleagues, the skill and professionalism of our supply chain teams, and the responsiveness in managing daily changes within all our store operations.

“We continue to see high levels of demand from both new and existing customers, with clear progress made on our ‘Powered by Kingfisher’ strategic priorities, especially in four key areas.

“Firstly, ecommerce continues to be our fastest-growing channel with two-year growth of over 250 per cent, now accounting for 21 per cent of group sales. During the quarter we established a new agile operating model for our technology and digital teams, and further strengthened these teams with multiple new hires.

“Secondly, we are excited to have launched Screwfix as a pure-play online retailer in France in late April.

“Thirdly, our new own exclusive brand kitchen range is now available in all key markets, with very positive results despite lockdown restrictions.

“And finally we continue to develop, test and roll out multiple innovative propositions for our customers, with more compact store tests, a new mobile app for Screwfix, self-checkout terminals and our new tool for 3D kitchen and bathroom design. We have also started to roll out our NeedHelp services marketplace in B&Q and Poland.

“With the strong start to the year, we now anticipate first half sales and adjusted pre-tax profit to be ahead of our previous expectations.

“Whilst the second half of the financial year remains naturally uncertain, we continue to see supportive long-term trends for our industry and are confident of continued outperformance of our wider markets.”