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LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - Home improvement group Kingfisher
said underlying sales turned positive in the first week
of May as more of its stores re-opened from coronavirus
lockdowns, giving it more confidence for the future.
Kingfisher, which owns B&Q in Britain and Castorama in
France, said that like-for-like sales in the first week of May
grew 2.7%, a turnaround compared to the three months to the end
of April when they dropped 24.8% after many shops shut.
The group said there had been a phased re-opening of its UK
and French stores in the second half of April and now 631 of its
total 1,370 stores across Europe were open, and most of those
not open to the public were offering click and collect.
Management's focus during lockdown had been to reduce costs
and protect cash, said chief executive Thierry Garnier, and by
May 8, with help from a French government facility, it had
access to liquidity of 2 billion pounds ($2.46 billion).
"Our current cash balance provides us with sufficient
financial headroom based on assumptions of a prolonged period of
reduced sales," Garnier said in a statement on Tuesday.
The board and executive team had taken pay cuts of 20%
during the crisis, the group said, adding that there were active
talks with landlords about payments.
Kingfisher's stores as well as its distribution and
fulfilment centres were now operating safely with social
distancing measures in place, the group said.
($1 = 0.8121 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young, editing by James Davey and Kate
Holton)