Kingfisher, the owner of hardware stores B&Q and Screwfix, has seen sales and profit fall.

In an earnings statement, the company said in the six months to 31 July group sales declined by 4.1 per cent at constant current to £6.8 billion. Statutory pre-tax profit fell by 30 per cent to £474 million. Kingfisher said this was due to a more challenging retail environment.

Sales in the UK were down 41.3 per cent over the same period. This contrasts with the rest of the world, which covers Iberia, Poland, Romania and Turkey, where sales rose by 43.7 per cent or 52.1 per cent on a constant currency basis.

Kingfisher added that like for like sales compared to the previous year were 16.6 per cent ahead of pre-pandemic levels, which it says was down to “resilient sales and product availability”.

Commenting on the results Thierry Garnier, chief executive at Kingfisher, said: “Looking to the months ahead, although trading in the year to date has been in line with our expectations, we remain vigilant against the more uncertain economic outlook for the second half.”

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