Home improvement retailer Kingfisher sees improving sales trends
First half underlying profit down 0.5%
Kitchen and bathroom demand weak
Improving sales trend for seasonal products
Expects full year profit of 510-550 mln stg
Shares rise 7%
Adds shares in paragraph 2, CEO comments in paragraphs 5-8
By James Davey
LONDON, Sept 17 (Reuters) -B&Q and Castorama owner Kingfisher KGF.L lifted the bottom end of its annual profit outlook, saying that while demand for 'big-ticket' home improvements like kitchens and bathrooms remained weak, seasonal sales trends have improved since early July.
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed European retailer, which also owns Screwfix in Britain and Brico Depot in France, were up 7% on Tuesday, hitting its highest in more than two years.
High interest rates and macro-economic uncertainty have pressured consumer demand for big home improvement projects on both sides of the Atlantic. Last month U.S. giants Home Depot HD.N and Lowe's LOW.N both warned on the outlook.
Kingfisher reported flat first-half profit but said there were "positive early signs" of a housing market recovery, notably in the United Kingdom.
CEO Thierry Garnier told reporters the worst 'big ticket' category remained kitchens.
"It's two trends. First, we are seeing less kitchen (demand) and two when you sell a kitchen, you sell a cheaper kitchen," he said.
He, however, added: "We are seeing a kind of plateau in Q1, Q2, it's not worse, it's stable.".
He also said that after a very poor April, May, June and early July, sales of seasonal products such as outdoor furniture, barbecues, fencing and decking had picked up.
Kingfisher said it was strongly positioned for growth in 2025 and beyond and that it now expected an adjusted pretax profit for 2024/25 of 510 million to 550 million pounds ($674-$727 million), having previously forecast 490 million to 550 million pounds. It made 568 million pounds in 2023/24.
Profit on the same measure fell 0.5% to 334 million pounds in its first half to July 31, with like-for-like sales down 2.4%. It said it gained market share in Britain and Poland, with weak sales in France broadly in line with the market.
"Trading overall in the first half was in line with our expectations," said Garnier.
"This was underpinned by customers continuing to repair, maintain and renovate their existing homes, driving resilient volume trends in our core product categories."
The group said like-for-like sales were down 0.3% in the third quarter so far.
($1 = 0.7570 pounds)
Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Sarah Young, Alexander Smith and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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