LONDON (Reuters) -European home improvement retailer Kingfisher raised its full year profit outlook on Tuesday after reporting a 10.2% rise for the first half, driven by a strong performance in the UK.
The FTSE-100 listed group, which owns B&Q and Screwfix in the UK and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets, said it was now targeting the “upper end” of guidance for full-year adjusted pretax profit of 480 million pounds to 540 million pounds ($648-$730 million), versus 528 million pounds in 2024/25.
It made 368 million pounds in the six months to July 31, on sales up 1% to 6.81 billion pounds.
Like-for-like sales were up 4.4% and 3.0% at B&Q and Screwfix respectively, helped by good weather which boosted sales of garden furniture and barbecues. The group won market share in the UK, France and Spain.
“Our expectations for our markets for the year remain consistent with what we outlined in March, whilst mindful of mixed consumer sentiment and political uncertainty,” Chief Executive Thierry Garnier said.
The group, whose shares are flat so far this year, also said it was accelerating its share buyback programme, with the current 300 million pounds programme slated to complete by March 2026.
($1 = 0.7402 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)
