European home improvement retailer Kingfisher has reported a 1.8% decline in sales to £6.75bn ($8.91bn) for the first half (H1) of fiscal 2024/25, compared to £6.88bn in H1 2023/24.
In the UK & Ireland, like-for-like (LFL) sales decreased marginally by 0.2%, while France and Poland experienced a more significant LFL sales drop of 7.2% and 0.2%, respectively, in H1 2024/25.
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However, Kingfisher’s total e-commerce sales saw a robust growth of 8.4%, with the UK and Ireland the primary drivers.
The retailer’s statutory basic earnings per share improved by 3.9% to 12.8p in H1 2024/25, up from 12.4p in H1 2023/24.
Its operating profit also saw a rise of 2.0% to £374m, although retail profit declined by 2.7% on a constant currency basis to £420m.
Gross profit for Kingfisher slightly decreased by 0.6% to £2.48bn in H1 2024/25, compared to £2.49bn in H1 2023/24.
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By GlobalDataThe company’s statutory pre-tax profit increased by 2.3% to £324m, and its gross margin improved by 40 basis points to 36.7%.
Kingfisher CEO Thierry Garnier said: “Trading overall in the first half was in line with our expectations. This was underpinned by customers continuing to repair, maintain and renovate their existing homes, driving resilient volume trends in our core product categories. As expected, demand for ‘big-ticket’ categories has remained weak, in line with the broader market, while seasonal category sales trends have improved since early July.”
The company has adjusted its full-year 24/25 profit before tax forecast to between £510m and £550m, a slight increase from the previous range of £490m to £550m.
“Reflecting our performance in the first half and our current view of the trading environments in our markets, we have tightened our profit guidance and upgraded our free cash flow guidance for the year. We remain focused on continuing to manage our costs and cash effectively, and driving further market share gains by delivering on our key strategic priorities,” Garnier added.
The company has developed a new AI platform to deliver faster and secure shopping experience.
