Weak sales trend

Kingfisher recorded sales of £ 1.94 bn (€ 2.82 bn) in the first quarter, which amounted to an increase of 2.2 per cent on the same period last year. The increase in constant currency was 0.5 per cent, and like-for-like sales were down by 5.6 per cent. B&Q's sales in the UK saw a decline of 2.8 per cent (like-for-like 7.7 per cent) to £ 1.0 bn (€ 1.45 bn). By contrast, sales in France increased by 5.3 per cent on a constant currency basis to £ 651.6 mio (€ 947.9 mio), and by 1.2 per cent like-for-like. This reflects the good results from Brico Dépôt, which show sales up 23.1 per cent (10.9 per cent like-for-like). On the other hand, Castorama's sales were 4.4 per cent down (4.4 per cent like-for-like). International sales saw growth of 15 per cent to £ 185.8 mio (€ 270.0 mio). This translates into 3.9 per cent growth in constant currency, and into –17.6 per cent in like-for-like terms.