Kingfisher, Europe's largest home improvement retailer, said it was hit by the extraordinary bad weather in the second quarter, though trading in the UK and Ireland was resilient.
The B&Q owner said that group reported sales rose 3.7% in the 10 weeks to July 7th, but like-for-like (LFL) sales fell 0.4%. During the 23 weeks to July 7th, revenues were up 1% but down 2.8% LFL.
"The unprecedented wet weather across Northern Europe has continued throughout our second quarter so far, clearly impacting footfall and consumer demand for outdoor and seasonal products," said Chief Executive Ian Cheshire.
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French sales declined by 0.6% (-2.3% LFL) during the quarter, with turnover at Brico Dpt declining by -4.5% (-4.8% LFL) reflecting different trading patterns this year in the run-up to the July public holidays.
Meanwhile, total sales in the UK & Ireland increased by 5.0% (+1.1% LFL), with revenues at B&Q growing by 4.9% (+1.6% LFL). The gross margin is expected to be lower as the group had to mark down products to clear horticultural stocks, as well as additional promotions to stimulate activity and the decision to accelerate range clearance all into the second quarter ahead of the national roll out of a new, common tiling range. Sales at Screwfix improved by 7.2% despite a challenging tradesman market, the group said.
Other International sales jumped by 9.3% in the quarter (+0.2% LFL) and are now down 0.9% LFL in the first half.
Cheshire said that additional marketing and promotional activity saw some customers switch their activity to internal repairs and projects, which partially offset the weather-related weakness, especially in the UK.
"Whilst these exceptional weather patterns have impacted us in the short term we continued to progress with the key steps of our 'Creating the Leader' programme of self-help, including accelerating the introduction of new, common ranges in the quarter. I remain confident that this programme will see us emerge as a world class retailer at helping our customers have better, more sustainable homes," he added.
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