Britain's fervour for DIY during lockdown failed to help B&Q owner Kingfisher prevent a sales slump as it grappled with the virus fallout.
Britons flocked to the nation’s DIY stores at the start of the lockdown in March. They were deemed essential and allowed to stay open but B&Q shut its stores in late March, and last month reopened 288 shops with social distancing measures in place.
Sales in the three months to the end of April fell 24.8% but investors were encouraged by recent improvements. Group sales were down 74% in the first week of April, against a 2.7% rise in the first week of May.
The shares rose 5% or 8p to 170p. Investec analyst Kate Calvert said: “We expected Kingfisher to be able to implement social distancing within its stores more easily than most and, while there are likely to have been increased costs, this statement shows demand is there.”
Calvert added that the City is still awaiting new chief Thierry Garnier’s strategy to tackle the long-term shift to buying DIY products online and relying on tradespeople to do smaller jobs. “We still struggle to see where longer term sustainable growth will come from,” she said.
Kingfisher, which also owns the Castorama chain in France, said it has access to £2 billion in funds.
