Kingfisher: posts strong quarter, but gives cautious outlook
(CercleFinance.com) - Kingfisher shares are down over 4% on Thursday after the British retailer posted higher-than-expected quarterly sales, while giving a rather cautious outlook for the coming months.
Europe's largest home improvement retailer - which owns Castorama and Brico Depot in France and B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and Ireland - said group sales at stores open over a year jumped 17.4% in the three months to 31 October, its fiscal third quarter.
Total sales rose 17% to nearly 3.5 billion pounds, above the consensus of 3.3 billion pounds.
"Our growth was supported by strong market demand, as consumers spent more time in their homes and focused on improving them," said CEO Thierry Garnier.
While the strength of the third-quarter performance was "reassuring," Kingfisher said uncertainty over the Covid pandemic and the impact of temporary lockdown restrictions continues to limit near-term visibility.
These cautious comments prompted investors to shy away and the shares were down 4.4% on Thursday morning in London. They have still risen by over 35% so far this year.
Copyright (c) 2020 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.
Europe's largest home improvement retailer - which owns Castorama and Brico Depot in France and B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and Ireland - said group sales at stores open over a year jumped 17.4% in the three months to 31 October, its fiscal third quarter.
Total sales rose 17% to nearly 3.5 billion pounds, above the consensus of 3.3 billion pounds.
"Our growth was supported by strong market demand, as consumers spent more time in their homes and focused on improving them," said CEO Thierry Garnier.
While the strength of the third-quarter performance was "reassuring," Kingfisher said uncertainty over the Covid pandemic and the impact of temporary lockdown restrictions continues to limit near-term visibility.
These cautious comments prompted investors to shy away and the shares were down 4.4% on Thursday morning in London. They have still risen by over 35% so far this year.
Copyright (c) 2020 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.