Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF) has announced its Q1 trading update to 30 April 2024.
Key points
· Q1 sales of £3.3bn; total sales +0.3% (constant currency) and -0.3% (reported)
· LFL -0.9% including a +1.9% calendar impact (of which +1.1% relates to the leap year)(1)
· Q1 by region:
o UK & Ireland: share gains at B&Q supported by strong e-commerce and TradePoint sales; share gains and positive LFL at Screwfix
o France: sales in line with our expectation. Castorama and Brico Dépôt performing broadly in line with weaker market
o Poland: improved sales trend supported by stronger market
· Q1 by category:
o Core (66% of sales): resilient performance (LFL -0.3%)(2), with sequential improvement in YoY volume trends vs Q4 23/24
o Big-ticket (15% of sales): weak sales as expected (LFL -6.3%)(3), reflecting trends across the broader market
o Seasonal (19% of sales): resilient sales (LFL +1.9%)(4) despite unfavourable weather in April
· Volume and retail price inflation flat YoY; negative mix impact on average selling price from lower ‘big-ticket’ sales
· Q2 trading to date(5) in line with underlying Q1 trends, with LFL -2.5%
· Making progress against our key strategic priorities in Q1:
o Opened three Screwfix stores in France and seven in the UK & Ireland
o Total e-commerce sales +12.7%; now 18.8% of Group sales (Q1 23/24: 16.9%)
o Continued strong growth of e-commerce marketplace at B&Q (GMV(6) +99.4% YoY), and successful launch at Castorama France in March
o TradePoint LFL sales +8.5%. Trade loyalty programmes now live in all banners
· Full year guidance unchanged: expect FY 24/25 adjusted PBT of c.£490m to £550m(7) and free cash flow of c.£350m to £410m
Unaudited Q1 24/25 sales (three months ended 30 April 2024)
| Sales2024/25 | % TotalChange | % TotalChange | % LFLChange(8) | |
| £m | Reported | Constant currency | Constant currency | |
| UK & Ireland | 1,631 | +2.6% | +2.7% | +1.2% |
| – B&Q | 983 | +0.3% | +0.4% | +0.4% |
| – Screwfix | 648 | +6.3% | +6.4% | +2.4% |
| France | 1,026 | (8.1)% | (5.1)% | (5.3)% |
| – Castorama | 529 | (8.4)% | (5.5)% | (5.5)% |
| – Brico Dépôt | 497 | (7.7)% | (4.7)% | (5.2)% |
| Other International | 605 | +7.0% | +3.9% | +2.0% |
| – Poland | 445 | +8.6% | +3.1% | +0.4% |
| – Iberia(9) | 93 | (1.3)% | +1.9% | +1.9% |
| – Romania | 63 | +7.7% | +12.3% | +14.7% |
| – Other(10) | 4 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Total Group | 3,262 | (0.3)% | +0.3% | (0.9)% |
Thierry Garnier, Kingfisher Chief Executive Officer, said:
“Trading in the first quarter has been in line with our expectations. We have seen continued resilience in our core categories, although ‘big-ticket’ sales have been weak reflecting the broader market as expected. In the UK, we have gained considerable share across our banners. Our trade proposition continues to resonate with customers, driving positive LFL sales at Screwfix and strong LFL sales growth of 8.5% at TradePoint. In France, while slightly improved on Q4, trading reflects the weak overall retail market. And in Poland, we are seeing encouraging sales trends as the consumer environment improves.
“We continue to drive our strategic priorities at pace and remain focused on delivering market share growth. Our e-commerce sales grew by 12.7% and we successfully expanded our marketplace model to France. We delivered further expansion of Screwfix in France, and advanced our data, AI and retail media initiatives. Leveraging our learnings from TradePoint in attracting trade customers in the UK, we are excited to have widened trade loyalty programmes across all our banners.
“We remain focused on driving productivity gains and maintaining tight control of our costs and inventories. In France we are pushing ahead with our plan to improve performance, having successfully completed our structural simplification and transitioned to new leadership at Castorama.
“Looking forward, we confirm the guidance outlined in March for the full year, including our expectations for the overall market in 2024.”
Current trading and outlook
The second quarter has started in line with the underlying sales trends of Q1, with Group LFL sales -2.5% for the three weeks to 18 May 2024(5).
On the overall market outlook for 2024, we remain cautious due to the lag between housing demand and home improvement demand. As such, the scenarios we set out in our FY 23/24 results for the growth of our total addressable home improvement markets in the UK & Ireland, France and Poland in 2024, versus 2023, are unchanged.
| Our expectation of total addressable home improvement market % change in 2024 (YoY) | ||
| Low case | High case | |
| UK & Ireland | Low-single digit decline | Flat |
| France | Mid-single digit decline | Low-single digit decline |
| Poland | Flat | Low-single digit growth |
Against this backdrop, we are focused on growing ahead of our markets by leveraging our key strategic priorities. We are confident in the delivery of c.£120m of additional cost reductions and productivity gains this year, to partially offset higher pay rates and technology investments. As a result, our FY 24/25 guidance remains unchanged, expecting adjusted PBT of c.£490m to £550m, and free cash flow of c.£350m to £410m.
Kingfisher store tours in Poland and France – July 2024
Kingfisher is hosting tours of its international stores in Poland (Castorama) and France (Castorama, Brico Dépôt and Screwfix) on 9-11 July 2024. The event is open to all institutional investors and sell-side research analysts. Please contact Investor Relations for further details.
Q1 summary
As stated in our FY 23/24 results in March, Group LFL sales for the first seven weeks of Q1 (to 23 March 2024) were -2.3%.
Since then, underlying sales trends remained broadly stable through the remainder of the quarter, with resilience in core categories offset by weakness in ‘big-ticket’ sales as expected. Seasonal category sales were positive YoY despite the impact of unfavourable weather conditions, especially in April in the UK and France.
Overall, Q1 24/25 LFL sales were -0.9%. This includes a +1.9% calendar impact(1), of which +1.1% relates to the impact of the additional day in the leap year. This impact was broadly consistent across our main markets. In relation to the pure calendar component (+0.8%), we expect this to unwind over the balance of the year.
