Sourcing, sales, financial planning

Kingfisher releases detailed statement on Covid-19

Kingfisher's B&Q stores in the United Kingdom and in Ireland remain open.
Kingfisher's B&Q stores in the United Kingdom and in Ireland remain open.
17.03.2020

Yesterday, Kingfisher published a detailed "Covid-19 update". The company, which is listed on the stock exchange, not only referred to its "significant financial headroom", but also mentioned the supply chain and the closing of stores in France and Spain. In these passages of the update, it says:
"The company has global sourcing offices in China, other Asian countries and Europe. Approximately 25 per cent of our total annual cost of goods sold (COGS) are directly sourced from the Far East. We also source from Eastern and Western Europe, including Italy (ca. 4 per cent of COGS), as part of our supply chain.
In China, over 95 per cent of our vendors' factories have reopened, with capacity starting to rebuild. In addition, approximately two thirds of our outdoor and seasonal product orders were shipped before Chinese New Year. At this moment over 85 per cent of placed orders have a less than 4-week delay against their original schedule. In Italy, while nearly all of our vendor factories remain open to date, uncertainty remains over how goods can be transported from the region. [...]
Up to Saturday 14 March we have experienced no impact on demand from Covid-19. In February 2020, Group LFL sales were +7.6 per cent, or +2.3 per cent excluding the leap year impact. In the first two weeks of this month (up to and including Saturday 14 March) group LFL sales continued to be positive, with growth across all businesses within our core markets strongly supported by e-commerce sales. [...]
Following the announcement by the French government on Saturday 14 March to close all non-essential places used by the public, effective from midnight on Sunday 15 March, all 221 of Kingfisher's Castorama and Brico Dépôt stores in France have closed until and including Tuesday 14 April.
In addition, all 28 stores in Spain have also closed until and including Sunday 29 March, following the government's declaration of a 2-week state of emergency.
We are working to mitigate the implications of these closures, including via alternative routes to continue serving customers (e.g. via click & collect or home delivery).
Kingfisher's remaining 1 100+ stores across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Portugal and Russia remain open."
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