B&Q and Screwfix group projects DIY market will be flat at best

Owner Kingfisher said it remained cautious on the overall market outlook for 2024 'due to the lag between housing demand and home improvement demand'

Sales in core categories, such as tools and hardware, fell 0.3% in the first quarter.

Kingfisher — which owns the B&Q and Screwfix outlets — has projected the outlook for sales this year in the overall home improvement market in Britain and Ireland will at best be flat, and it will focus on reducing costs instead. 

"We are confident in the delivery of circa £120m [€140m] of additional cost reductions and productivity gains this year, to partially offset higher pay rates and technology investments," Kingfisher, which also has significant retail operations in France and Poland, said in a trading update. 

The London-listed group said it remained cautious on the overall market outlook for 2024 "due to the lag between housing demand and home improvement demand". 

Nevertheless, Kingfisher kept its forecast for an adjusted pretax profit for its financial year 2024/25 of £490m to £550m, down from the £568m made in 2023/24. It said group like-for-like sales fell 0.9% in the first quarter to April 30 and were down 2.5% in the three weeks to May 18.

While like-for-like sales in core categories, such as tools and hardware, fell 0.3% in the first quarter, they were down 6.3% in "big ticket" categories such as kitchens and bathrooms. Like-for-like sales in seasonal products such as garden furniture were up 1.9% despite unfavourable weather in April. 

Survey data published earlier this month showed consumers in Britain kept a tight rein on their spending in April, which partly reflected dismal weather.

Shares in Kingfisher have fallen almost 8% this year. The group said it expected the UK and Ireland home improvement market to be at best "flat" in 2024, with the French market seeing a "low single-digit" decline at best. 

The group's total sales in the first quarter rose 0.3% to £3.3bn, with like-for-like sales up 1.2% in the UK and Ireland and up 0.4% in Poland, but down 5.3% in France. 

It said B&Q and Screwfix won market share in the UK, while in France, Castorama and Brico Depot performed broadly in line with the weaker market. 

Irish Examiner and Reuters