Kingfisher, which owns DIY stores B&Q and Screwfix, has lowered its full year profit guidance following falling sales.

In a trading update covering the first six months of 2023, the company said sales had fallen due to a challenging trading environment.

As a result, Kingfisher updated its full year adjusted pre-tax profit guidance to £590 million from a previous forecast of £634 million.

Pre-tax profit fell by around 33 per cent to £317 million compared to £474 million in the first half of 2022.

While like for like sales in the UK and Ireland grew by 1.7 per cent, this was offset by sales in France which declined by 3.8 per cent. Sales in Poland also fell by 10.9 per cent over the first half of the year.

Kingfisher added that it had increased its use of data science and artificial intelligence (AI) over the previous year. A markdown tool had delivered “encouraging” results on clearance products. products.

"Trading in the UK & Ireland continues to have positive momentum,” said Thierry Garnier, chief executive at Kingfisher. “However, to better reflect our performance in H1 and the trading environment in our markets, we have updated our profit guidance for this year and are proactively managing our operating costs accordingly.”

“We remain very positive on the medium-to-long term outlook for home improvement growth in our markets, and confident in our ability to grow market share and deliver on our medium-term financial objectives. Underscoring this confidence, we are today announcing a new £300m share buyback programme, starting in early October."

Share Story: