(AFP/INDRANIL MUKHERJEE)
The British group of DIY stores Kingfisher, owner in France of Castorama and Brico Dépôt, confirmed its annual forecasts on Tuesday, after announcing a turnover down very slightly by 0.3% in the first quarter.
Quarterly sales of the owner of the Castorama, Brico Dépôt, B&Q and Screwfix brands – which has some 2,000 stores in eight countries, mainly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Poland – total 3.26 billion pounds, compared to 3.27 billion a year earlier, according to a press release.
“Activity in the first quarter was in line with our expectations. Our sales continued to be resilient in our core business categories, however, as we had anticipated and in line with the rest of the market, they were weak in our +project+ categories,” summarized general manager Thierry Garnier.
It indicates that in the United Kingdom, Kingfisher “gained significant market share across all its brands” but that in France, “although sales were better than in the fourth quarter, activity reflects the overall weakness of the market”.
“In this context, we remain focused on improving our productivity and on good control of our costs and our stocks. In France, we are continuing to execute our performance improvement plan, after having led to the simplification of the organization and the transition to the new management teams at Castorama”, underlines Mr. Garnier.
At the end of March, the group announced a “profitability plan” to improve the performance of Castorama in France, a market where its sales fell by 5.9% last year, and by 8.1% in the first quarter.
The general manager indicated that Kingfisher confirmed its objectives for 2024-2025, i.e. adjusted net profit before tax again down, “of between approximately 490 and 550 million pounds sterling”, compared to 568 million over the last financial year.