Kingfisher share price tumbles as B&Q owner reports drop in sales

Shares in Kingfisher (LON:KGF) have lost more than five percent in London this morning, as the B&G owner posted a drop in second-quarter sales, pressured by weak demand at its B&Q business. The FTSE 100 group further revealed that problems at its French business had continued over the summer.

As of 10:12 BST, Kingfisher’s share price had lost 5.56 percent to 291.90p, underperforming the benchmark FTSE 100 index which is currently 0.29 percent worse off at 7,411.55 points. The group‘s shares have lost more than 18 percent of their value over the past year, and are down by some 16 percent in the year-to-date.

Kingfisher announced in a statement this morning that its total sales had slipped 1.9 percent to £3.1 billion in the second quarter of the year, pressured by weakness at its B&Q division where seasonal performance was down 11 percent. The company also pointed to continued weakness in France, where sales dipped 3.8 percent during the reported period, as well as to continued business disruption from the group’s ONE Kingfisher strategy.

Kingfisher’s chief executive Véronique Laury further commented in the statement that the group remained “cautious on the H2 outlook for the UK and France as previously guided”.

The Telegraph quoted George Salmon, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, as commenting that it was “sometimes difficult to get a grip on the underlying direction of travel at Kingfisher, so dependent is the group on the vagaries of the weather”.

“However, with the transformative 'One' Kingfisher plan suffering from disruption and like-for-like sales in both France and the UK in negative territory, there aren’t many bright spots for investors in these results,” he pointed out, adding that ‘a silver lining of sorts’ was that it seemed like Kingfisher was not alone in having difficulties in the UK. 

As of 10:50 BST, Thursday, 17 August, Kingfisher plc share price is 290.10p.