British retail group Kingfisher has revealed a 16% slump in profits at B&Q and warned that trading conditions have remained 'challenging' in recent weeks.
The company, which is Europe's biggest home improvement retailer, highlighted the dire position of its market with quarterly figures showing a 7.7% fall in like-for-like sales at B&Q in the three months to April 30.
The disappointing first quarter performance had been expected following an update last month, although Kingfisher did little to signal an improvement today when it said current trends continued to be 'adverse'.
It blamed strong competition, the impact of weaker consumer demand and an early Easter period for poor sales of kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms.
Chief executive Gerry Murphy said UK consumer spending had been affected by higher interest rates, higher taxes and rising fuel bills. But he said that with the key summer season still to come, it was too early judge the outlook for the full year.
As well as B&Q and Screwfix Direct in the UK, Kingfisher owns Castorama and Brico Depot in France and stores across Europe and Asia. Across the group, total sales were up 2.2% at £1.94 billion, but down 5.6%
when new store openings were stripped. Retail profits were down almost 16%, at £125.9m.
B&Q's total sales declined 2.8% to £1 billion with retail profits down 16.5% at £73.2m. Mr Murphy later said the company had no plans to break up its business.
