Kingfisher , Europe’s largest home improvements retailer, enjoyed steady growth across Britain and France, due largely in part to its Screwfix chain.
Sales at stores trading over a year rose 16.7% in the 10 weeks to July 11 at Screwfix, as garden enthusiasts splashed on garden essentials and outdoor merchandise in time for summer.
Kingfisher’s B&Q business recorded same-store sales up 3.4% over the same period.
Earlier this year, newly appointed CEO Veronique Laury outlined plans to restructure Kingfisher, which meant the closure of 60 B&Q stores as well as the downsize of product lines.
In contrast, Screwfix currently operates 412 stores and Kingfisher believes there is the potential for more than 500 outlets.
“We have delivered a solid Q2 sales performance to date across all our major businesses, albeit against softer comparatives than in Q1,” commented Laury. “I am also very pleased to report that the pilot of our unified IT system, which is a key enabler of our ‘ONE‘ Kingfisher plan, started on time in Ireland. We look forward to updating on further progress against our first ‘sharp‘ decisions in September. And we have to date returned £138m to shareholders via a share buy back since the year end.”
