Quarterly figures from Kingfisher

Kingfisher ended the fourth quarter of its 2008/09 financial year with total sales up by 11.2 per cent to £ 2.345 bn. However, Europe's biggest DIY retailer also announced a 0.3 per cent fall in constant currencies and a 5.5 per cent fall in like-for-like terms. Total sales for France are reported to show an increase of 2.1 per cent in constant currencies (-2.9 per cent like-for-like). Total sales in the United Kingdom show a fall of 4.2 per cent (6.8 per cent like-for-like). The company's stores in eastern Europe continued to deliver strong rates of growth: sales in Poland rose by 16 per cent (5.5 per cent like-for-like) and in Russia by 68 per cent (16.7 per cent like-for-like).