Last checked at 
* New CEO Thierry Garnier started in September
* Q3 like-for-like sales down 3.7%
* Firm suffering from "organisational complexity"
* New boss to update on strategy in March
* Shares down 5.4% at 0945 GMT
(Adds detail, shares)
By James Davey
LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The new boss of Kingfisher
criticised the British home improvement group's
"organisational complexity" as it reported a worsening decline
in quarterly sales, underlining the uphill task he faces to stem
falling profits.
Kingfisher shares slumped as much as 9.3% after its trading
update and as Carrefour veteran Thierry Garnier, who succeeded
Véronique Laury as chief executive in September, outlined major
problems that need to be addressed.
The group, whose main businesses are B&Q and Screwfix in
Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France, said
like-for-like sales fell 3.7% in its third quarter to Oct. 31.
They had fallen 1.8% in the first half.
The drop was blamed on continuing disruption from the
implementation of new ranges, lower promotional activity and
ongoing operational challenges in France, along with softer
market conditions in its main markets.
Shares in Kingfisher recovered some early losses and were
down 5.4% at 0945 GMT, but have now shed 20% over the past year.
Garnier said he would update on strategy when Kingfisher
publishes full year results in March. But he gave his initial
view after spending his first eight weeks talking to staff,
visiting stores and meeting customers and suppliers.
"My early assessment is that we have not found the right
balance between getting the benefits of group scale and staying
close to local markets," he said.
"We are suffering from organisational complexity, and we are
trying to do too much at once with multiple large-scale
initiatives running in parallel."
Garnier said this had disrupted sales and distracted the
business from focusing on customers.
He said his priority was to fix operational issues,
particularly in IT and the supply chain in France, where
like-for-like sales slumped 6.1% in the quarter.
Garnier plans to stop or pause a number of initiatives to
concentrate on stabilising performance and trading. He did not
say which ones.
Kingfisher, which trades from more than 1,300 stores in 10
countries across Europe, including Poland and Romania, said
total sales fell 3.2% at constant currency to 3.0 billion pounds
($3.9 billion). Like-for-like sales were down 1% in the UK and
Ireland, and down 3.2% in Poland.
It maintained its forecast for a flat gross margin for the
full 2019-20 year.
The group's profits reversed in 2018-19 and are forecast to
fall again in the current year. Prior to Wednesday's update
analysts were on average forecasting an underlying pretax profit
of 633 million pounds, down from 693 million pounds in 2018-19.
Some analysts have speculated the group could be broken-up
or be vulnerable to a takeover bid from private equity.
In September, Kingfisher's Chairman Andy Cosslett said the
board was not "iron clad" on its current structure but believed
it gave it the necessary scale.
($1 = 0.7757 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton and Susan
Fenton)
