Kingfisher today warned of supply disruption related to its five-year transformation plan as the home improvements retailer posted lower underlying quarterly sales because of weakness in France.
In the three months to the end of April, Kingfisher reported a 0.6% fall in sales in stores open for more than a year.
Kingfisher trades as B&Q and Screwfix in Ireland and Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets.
It said today that like-for-like sales were down 5.5% in France, but rose 3.5% in Britain and Ireland.
In March, Kingfisher had warned that the effect of Britain's vote to leave the European Union and potential disruption from the French election could hit trade in its two main markets.
Last year, Kingfisher set out a strategy to boost annual profit by £500m from 2021 that will cost £800m over five years to deliver.
The plan involves unifying product ranges across the business, improving e-commerce capabilities and driving efficiencies.
The company said it was experiencing some business disruption given the scale of change related to its "One Kingfisher" transformation plan, as it cleared old ranges, marketed new ranges and rolled out a unified IT platform.
A Kingfisher spokesman told Reuters "the situation is improving," but that some disruption was expected to continue as there are still a lot of unified product ranges to come in.
