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(Alliance News) - Kingfisher PLC on Monday said it is seeing higher demand for its products following a sales slip in its most recently ended financial year.
In addition, the home improvements retailer said it has been required by the UK Financial Conduct Authority to delay the publication of its annual results, which were due to be reported on Tuesday, for at least two weeks.
On Sunday, the FCA asked all companies due to produce preliminary financial statements in the next few days to delay publication due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus. The watchdog urged all listed companies to observe a moratorium on the publication of preliminary financial statements for at least two weeks.
Kingfisher said its sales in the twelve months to the end of January declined by 1.5% to GBP11.51 billion. On a constant currency basis, sales fell by 0.8%, the company noted.
However, in the fourth quarter alone, sales improved by 1.7% on a like-for-like basis, reflecting operational improvements in France and the implementation of a new trading approach across the company, including reintroducing trading events.
As at January 31, Kingfisher said it has cash and cash equivalents of GBP195 million. As of Friday last week, this had increased to GBP1.1 billion, having drawn down two revolving credit facilities.
The FTSE 100-listed company said it will not be paying a dividend for its most recently ended financial year amid uncertainty caused by Covid-19.
Kingfisher highlighted that it continues to closely monitor the financial impact of Covid-19 and has launched multiple cash flow mitigation actions.
In China, nearly all of the factories of the company's vendors have reopened, with capacity starting to rebuild. Over 85% of placed orders have a less than four-week delay against their original schedule, Kingfisher said.
In Europe, vendor factories in Italy have either closed or are expected to soon close, following the recent announcement by the Italian government.
In France, Kingfisher said it had closed temporarily all of its 221 stores from mid-March in order to comply with the 15-day confinement period announced by the French government. The company's e-commerce websites remain open for home delivery across France.
All 28 stores in Spain also have closed, following the government's declaration of a two-week state of emergency.
In the UK, Kingfisher said stores remain open, as well as in Ireland, Poland, Romania, Portugal and Russia.
Looking ahead, the company said, in February, its like-for-like sales were 7.6% higher year-on-year, or up 2.3% excluding the leap year impact.
In the first two weeks of up to and including March 14, Kingfisher's like-for-like sales continued to be "positive", it said, with growth across all businesses within the core markets, strongly supported by e-commerce sales.
In the third week of March, the UK continued to be positive, but France was hurt by the closure of all its stores and Poland experienced weak footfall and sales, Kingfisher said.
Sales in the London-headquartered company's online channel have grown significantly in recent weeks, and it said it is boosting its e-commerce capacity in all markets to meet this demand.
"We are committed to supporting our communities and governments to manage the Covid-19 pandemic," said Chief Executive Thierry Garnier.
"These are unprecedented times. We'll get through them and, when we do, we are as a team committed to returning Kingfisher to growth," added Garnier.
Kingfisher shares were trading 0.3% lower in London on Monday at 125.80 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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