Shares in Kingfisher were down 4 per cent today after it reported a 15 per cent fall in half-year profits after a poor performance in France, but said it was on track to grow its gross margin in the full year.
The company, which is one of Europe’s biggest home improvement retailers, said profit in France had plunged 30 per cent in the period amid higher costs.
The B&Q owner added that customer perception of Castorama was not where it needed to be and there was a lot more to do to improve the business, and a plan was underway to help start that process. Earlier in September, it replaced its French CEO.
The UK and Polish businesses had shown solid performances in the period, said Kingfisher, although it noted that the outlook was mixed and said the retail environment was “making our task more difficult than we expected”.
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