First six months positive

Kingfisher has announced strong sales growth for the first six months of the current financial year (to 4 August 2007). The British group recorded global sales of £ 4.775 bn (€ 6.868 bn), which represents a 10.7 per cent increase on the same period last year in constant currency. The like-for-like increase amounts to 4.3 per cent. Pre-tax profit rose by 6.2 per cent to £ 240.1 mio (€ 345 mio). The B&Q retail chain in Britain grew sales by five per cent and profit – excluding the costs related to store modernisation – by 13 per cent. Sales in France rose by ten per cent, and profits by eleven per cent, mainly as a result of the Castorama stores doing better business. The company puts a figure of 25 per cent on sales growth in its other marketing areas in Europe and Asia. According to the report, the stores in Poland did very well, whereas the results in China were weaker.