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LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - British home improvement
retailer Kingfisher reported a 61.6% jump in first-half
profit on the back of a do-it-yourself boom during the pandemic
and raised its sales expectations for the second half.
The group, which owns B&Q and Screwfix in the United Kingdom
and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets, made
an adjusted pretax profit of 669 million pounds ($914.3
million)for the six months ended July 31.
That beat guidance of 645-660 million pounds and was up from
415 million a year earlier.
Many people have rediscovered DIY during the COVID-19 crisis
as they spend more time at home, have fewer leisure options and
travel less.
Kingfisher's sales rose 22.2% on a constant currency basis
to 7.1 billion pounds, with like-for-like sales up 22.8% and up
21.3% on a two-year basis.
"We have navigated well through the challenging operational
impacts of the pandemic, retaining good product availability at
competitive prices and operating safely," CEO Thierry Garnier
said.
The group said it had made a good start to its second half,
with resilient demand across all markets.
Third quarter to Sept. 18 like-for-like sales were down 0.6%
reflecting high comparative numbers.
It raised its second half expectations, forecasting
like-for-like sales down 7% to 3% versus previous guidance of
down 15% to 5%.
Kingfisher forecast a 2021-22 adjusted pretax profit of
910-950 million pounds, up from 786 million in 2020-21.
It also declared an interim dividend of 3.8 pence and plans
to return 300 million pounds to shareholders through a share
buyback.
($1 = 0.7317 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey, editing by Paul Sandle and Jason
Neely)
