B&Q owner expects no Brexit disruption to running of Irish stores

Shoppers queue outside B&Q in Liffey Valley in Dublin after it reopened following the first Covid lockdown. The owners do no expect Brexit to cause any disruption to the running of stores in Ireland.

The owner of home improvement retailers B&Q and Screwfix has said it does not expect Brexit to cause any disruption to the running of its stores in Ireland. 

The Kingfisher group said it had taken measures to mitigate delays at the border as far as possible and to ensure readiness for exporting product to Ireland.

B&Q and Screwfix strongly rode out the Covid downturn by generating sales of £1.57bn (€1.75bn) across their combined UK and Ireland operations in the last three months.

That represented a 21.5% increase on the same period last year. During the period, four new Screwfix stores opened in the Republic.

On a group-wide basis, Kingfisher – which owns B&Q, Screwfix and French retailers Castorama and Brico Depot – reported a 17.2% year-on-year sales increase, to just under £3.5bn, for the third quarter of its financial year.

However, Kingfisher said growth had slowed to 12.6% in the current quarter, largely reflecting the impact of recent lockdown measures in England, Ireland and France. As it is deemed an essential retailer, Kingfisher’s stores can stay open.

The group cautioned that uncertainty over Covid-19 and the impact of lockdown restrictions in most of its markets was limiting its near-term visibility, though.