Home improvement retailer Kingfisher has today reported record annual revenue and profit driven by the Covid-19 pandemic and said it had made an encouraging start to its new year despite heightened macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty.
The group owns B&Q and Screwfix in Ireland and the UK and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets.
It said today it made an adjusted profit before tax of £949m in the year to January 31 - in line with analysts' forecasts and up 20.9% from the £786m made in 2020-21.
Total sales rose 6.8% to £13.2 billion with more people rediscovering DIY (do-it-yourself) during the crisis as they spent more time at home, had fewer leisure options and travelled less.
"While the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment is uncertain, you can expect from us continued focus on top line delivery and market share growth, strong execution, effective management of our gross margin, and active and responsive management of our operating costs," said CEO Thierry Garnier.
Like-for-like sales in the first quarter of the 2022-23 year so far to March 19 were down 8.1% year-on-year, but up 16% on a two year basis, with resilient demand across all markets supported by good stock availability.
The group is targeting net space growth of 1.5% in 2022-23 and said it was comfortable with the current analysts' consensus for adjusted pretax profit of £769m.
Kingfisher proposed a total dividend per share of 12.4 pence, up 50.3%.
