Raindrops keep falling on Kingfisher's head

published 12 September 2012

Wet weather and adverse exchange rates put a dampener on the first half performance of do-it-yourself retailer Kingfisher.

Sales in the 26 weeks to July 28th were down 3.3% to £5,478m from £5,662m at the interim stage last year. That was in line with market forecasts. On a constant currency basis, sales were up 1.0% but on a like-for-like (LFL) basis were off 2.8%.

Adjusted pre-tax profit slumped 15.5% to £371m from £439m the year before, with the company sizing the impact of wet weather in the UK and Northern Europe at more than £30m, which might account for why the profit figure was £24m shy of the forecast by Charles Stanley.