Rivals Woodie's and B&Q post strong Christmas sales  

Boost in trading 

Declan Ronayne, CEO of Woodie’s, pictured at Woodie’s in Bray last May. picture: Kyran O'Brien Photography

The rival owners of Woodie's DIY and the B&Q stores said that Christmas trading had gone well in Ireland and ahead of this month's third lockdown.

Grafton, which owns Woodie's and the building merchants Chadwicks, said its stores remain open despite the latest lockdown having shut most building sites.        

In its trading update, Grafton, which has extensive builders merchanting operations in Britain and the Netherlands, as well as in Ireland, said both sales and profits in the last two months of 2020 were better than expected.

That will mean that operating profit for 2020 will be "slightly more than 5% ahead of current consensus of £174m" (€193m), although below 2019's outcome because of the Covid-19 crisis.  

Shares in Grafton, which are listed in London, fell slightly in the latest session but are 11% up from this time last year. The stock market values Grafton at £2.24bn.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher, which owns the B&Q and Screwfix stores, said its British and Irish outlets continued "to perform strongly" in December. 

Overall sales on a like-for-like basis in Britain and Ireland were up by 24% and 21% in November and December.

It said that overall group sales in the quarter were boosted by online operations.              

Screwfix would generate £2bn in sales in its 2020-2021 financial year, Kingfisher said. 

Apart from Britain and Ireland Kingfisher owns stores in France, Poland, Spain, and Portugal, as well as Romania.

It said that sales growth quickened last month, "helped significantly" by its French Castorama and Brico Depot stores, which bounced back from November's lockdown in France.  

Kingfisher shares, which trade in London, rose 2% in the latest session. They have now soared 36% in the past year, to value the retailer at £6bn. In the update, Kingfisher did not report any disruption from the Brexit customs uncertainty over Christmas and the new year period.

Last week, Marks & Spencer said Brexit uncertainty had affected its stores in Britain and Ireland. It had said that "very complex administrative processes" would significantly affect its Irish, Czech, and French operations. 

On Tuesday it said it had bought the Jaeger brand from its UK administrators.