Kingfisher: quarterly sales down like-for-like

(CercleFinance.com) - Kingfisher, Europe's biggest home improvement retailer, posted a 1.
3% fall in third-quarter underlying sales on Wednesday, saying that its main challenge was France's Castorama.

The firm said sales at stores open for at least a year dropped a 7.3% at Casto, and were down 2.9% at B&Q UK & Ireland.

In a statement, the group said it is operating in a "difficult" retail environment.

"We face challenges and we are addressing them. Our main challenge is Castorama France and we shared our action plan to fix it at the half year," said CEO Veronique Laury.

For 2018/2019, Kingfisher expects to grow its gross margin after clearance in the UK, Poland and Brico Depot France, although the outlook for Castorama France is "more uncertain", it said, given difficult trading and the ongoing impact of recent national demonstrations (yellow vests).

Kingfisher recently left Russia, Spain & Portugal to focus on markets where it has leading positions.

Kingfisher also said that it has mandated Goldman Sachs to launch a share buyback program to repurchase shares for cancellation, from November 2018 to January 2019, representing up to 50 million pounds.

The London-listed shares were down almost 3% after this trading update.

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