LONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Kingfisher, Europe'sbiggest home improvements retailer, posted third quarter profitat the lower end of forecasts and cautioned that its marketsremained tough, particularly in France where consumer confidenceis weak.
The firm said on Thursday there was no obvious signs of animminent improvement in consumer confidence in France, its mostprofitable market where it trades as Castorama and Brico Depot.
Kingfisher, which also runs the B&Q and Screwfix chains inBritain, made a retail profit of 271 million pounds in the 13weeks to Nov. 2.
That compared to analyst forecasts in a range of 271-285million pounds, with a consensus of 280 million pounds, and 257million pounds made in the same period last year.
Total sales rose 8 percent to 2.92 billion pounds, withsales at stores open over a year up 1.4 percent.