Third-quarter profits at B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher are expected to fall when its reports next Thursday but Panmure Gordon remained upbeat today with a 'buy' rating and 350p target price.The broker expects like-for-like sales to fall across the board in the third quarter. As for the bottom line, retail profits are expected to decline by 6% to £256m largely due to currency. On a constant currency basis, this will be a flat reading.Profits are predicted to drop by 10% in France and by 7% in International, led by Poland. In the UK, profits are forecast to rise by 7% as a result of the stock clearance in the second quarter and a continued improved performance from Screwfix."It is not difficult to be bearish on the profit outlook for Kingfisher. Clearly, with 50% of profits earned in France, if the consumer economy was to take a further turn for the worse, then there are more downgrades to come. We view the worst case outlook as a 30% downgrade to profits in France, which translates into a 15% fall at the group level.," Panmure said."However, it is possible to look more favourably at the outlook. For instance, the French government has announced its intention to reduce social security costs that companies pay by 6%. If this were to be implemented (which is far from certain), then it would be worth €30m to the bottom line."Panmure admits that with the uncertainty surrounding the stock, shares are unlikely to be outperformers for the remainder of the year."We remain buyers on the view that the long term outlook for earnings remains good. Also, at some stage, there might be some help from the UK economy and, in the meantime, self-help opportunities should support profits and therefore the shares."BC