Wet and cold spring troubles Kingfisher

Awful weather

Kingfisher saw its sales drop immensely in the
past quarter, the company announced in
a trading update. The group had sales of 2.62 billion pound (3.05 billion euro)
over the thirteen weeks (ending on 4 May), a drop of 4.2% on a comparable
basis.

In France alone sales dropped by 5.6% to 1.08
billion pound: Castorama lost 4.1% on a comparable basis, Brico Dépôt did even
worse with -7.3%. The British and Irish activities lost 4.7% of their sales and
ended up at 1.07 billion pound as B&Q had a drop of 5.6% on a comparable
basis. The only bright side in Kingfisher’s two main markets was the smaller chain Screwfix, that had a modest rise in sales of 1.7%.

The remainder of the international activities –
the group is active in 8 countries in Europe and Asia – showed a growth of
0.7%. The unseasonably cold weather over the crucial Easter shopping period deterred
consumers from commencing projects outdoors or in the garden, said CEO Ian
Cheshire (photo): “The weather clobbered us for six weeks – six weeks out of
13,” he added.

Less planting materials, more fuels

It was even so cold that “people went indoors
and lit fires”, Cheshire said, which showed up well within the winners
and the losers in the assortment: the past quarter 8% less planting materials
were sold and even 52% less greenhouses/garden houses. The sales of paint rose
by 6%, while the demand for winter fuels could barely be met: +66%.

The CEO keeps his spirits up however: “The
weather had been better recently, and the group still had 80 per cent of the
year to go”, he said, adding that any comparison with the previous year will be
made easier by better exchange rates (last year the euro was in a big crisis).