Castorama suffers troubling like-for-like sales decline in Q2

Kingfisher has updated the market on Q2 trading.

Kingfisher France saw total sales decline of -0.7% to £1,193m (LFL -1.0%), driven down by poor performance at Castorama, which saw softer footfall. In comparison, sales for the home improvement market (according to Banque de France data) were up c.1% in Q2.

Castorama sales -4.1% to £648m.LFL -3.8% reflecting continued softer footfall and the impact of transformation-related activity.

LFL of weather-related categories was flat (impact on LFL in Q1 18/19 c.-4%, H1 18/19 c.-2%)

Brico Dépôt sales +3.7% to £545m. LFL +2.6% reflecting good growth from the new unified ranges, which continue to re-energise the Brico Dépôt offer, supported by investment in marketing.

Véronique Laury, Chief Executive Officer, said: 

"We started our transformation two and a half years ago and are on track to deliver our strategic milestones for the third year in a row.

"In Q2, I’m pleased that we grew our sales after the exceptionally harsh weather conditions in Q1.

"In B&Q, Screwfix and Brico Dépôt France we delivered good sales growth. However, the performance of Castorama France has been more difficult and as a result we have put additional actions in place to support our full year performance in France with the benefits expected to come through in H2.

“We look forward to providing a more detailed update at our H1 results in September.”

View the full publication here.

Source : Insight DIY and Kingfisher

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