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LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Home improvement retailer
Kingfisher on Tuesday reported another big jump in sales
as it continued to benefit from the popularity of do-it-yourself
(DIY) projects during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group, which owns B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and
Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets, said
like-for-like sales for its fourth quarter to Jan. 9 were up
16.9% year on year, having increased 17.4% in the previous
quarter.
Based on trading to date, Kingfisher said it was comfortable
with the top end of the range of current sell-side analyst
estimates for 2020-21 adjusted profit before tax of 667 million
to 742 million pounds ($904 million to $1.01 billion).
That compares to 544 million pounds made in 2019-20.
It highlighted e-commerce sales growth of more than 150% in
the quarter.
"While the strength of our Q4 trading, to date, is
reassuring, uncertainty over COVID-19 and the impact of lockdown
restrictions in most of our markets continue to limit our
visibility," CEO Thierry Garnier said.
Kingfisher shares, up by a third over the last year, closed
at 279.5 pence on Monday, valuing the business at 5.9 billion
pounds.
($1 = 0.7378 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Jason Neely)
