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LONDON (Alliance News) - Kingfisher PLC on Tuesday reported growth in profit in the first half of its financial year on the back of good growth in sales, and said it has so far seen no impact on demand from the UK's vote to leave the European Union.
The FTSE 100-listed DIY retailer said its pretax profit in the six months ended July 31 grew to GBP427 million from GBP386 million in the same period a year before, as sales rose to GBP5.75 billion from GBP5.49 billion.
Kingfisher said its results were driven by good performances in the UK and in Poland, especially in Screwfix, while it achieved a "stable profit performance" in France.
In the UK & Ireland, sales were up 3.3%, or by 6.7% on a like-for-like basis, while sales in other international rose by 9.7% and by 5.9% on a like-for-like basis. France, meanwhile, saw sales increase by 10%, although they slipped by 1.6% on a like-for-like basis.
Kingfisher will pay an interim dividend of 3.25 pence, up from the 3.18p paid the year before.
"In the UK, the EU referendum has created uncertainty for the economic outlook, even though there has been no clear evidence of an impact on demand so far on our businesses. In France we remain cautious on the short-term outlook," Chief Executive Veronique Laury said in a statement.
"Looking longer term, we are starting to build solid foundations to enable us to deliver our five year transformation, which is our key growth driver. We are making good progress on our strategic milestones for this first year and we are on track," she added.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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