French boost for Kingfisher sales

Castorama has revamped stores and cut prices

DIY retailer Kingfisher has reported a big jump in half-year profits helped by strong sales at its French stores.

Pre-tax profits for the six months to 31 July were £346.3m ($613m) up from £272.5m a year ago.

Sales were up by nearly 10% at £3.9bn, led by Kingfisher's French businesses Castorama and Brico Depot.

In the UK, good sales of kitchen and bathroom ranges at B&Q helped to offset poor sales of garden equipment which were hit by the wet summer weather.

French connection

B&Q like-for-like sales - which strip out the effects of new store openings - grew by 2.5%. Overall sales at B&Q were up 6% to £2.2bn.

Over 60% of sales growth in the first half came from outside the UK Gerry Murphy, Kingfisher chief executive See Kingfisher's share price

However, Kingfisher's French interests saw faster growth with combined like-for-like sales growth at Castorama and Brico Depot up 9.7%.

Castorama has been revamping stores and introducing new entry--price products. Sales at Brico Depot were boosted by the launch of the firm's first ever national catalogue.

"Castorama's revitalisation continued, and Brico Depot's new catalogue took the market by storm," said chief executive Gerry Murphy.

"Kingfisher's other European and Asian businesses all made good progress. Over 60% of sales growth in the first half came from outside the UK."

Kingfisher - which also has interests in Poland, Italy, China and Taiwan - is planning to open stores in Russia, and the firm said it hoped to have these outlets open within two years.