B&Q struggle means even more woes for Kingfisher

Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q as well as other stores in Europe and China, has said that like-for-like sales have fallen 5.5 percent from November 2008 to the end of January 2009.

B&Q today announced a further 5.9 per cent drop in UK sales and the fact that many products have been discounted heavily has meant that the profit margins have been hit. The chain is struggling to stay afloat following the reduction in demand due to both the DIY and property markets falling.

It is not all bad news for the chain though as a combination of new store openings and the weakness of the pound boosted international sales which meant that overall sales were actually up by 11.2 percent.

Sales in the UK also outperformed estimates as with the inclusion of the Trade Depot and Screwfix divisions, like-for-like sales were expected to fall by 9 percent although they only fell by 6.8 percent.

The chief executive, Ian Cheshire, said that the chain is hoping for improved market conditions and although no-one is expecting a huge bounce back, there is the hope that they will be able to gain an even greater market share.

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