Kingfisher saw its first-quarter sales slide 24% to £2.16bn due to the coronavirus lockdown enforcing store closures across its UK, Ireland, French and other international businesses.
In the UK, like-for-like sales dropped by 14.7% to £1.09bn, with B&Q sales plummeting 21.8% to £663m. However, Screwfix fared better with like-for-like sales down 4.7% to £432m.
Meanwhile, sales in France slid 41.5% and were down 13.6% in its other overseas markets.
Kingfisher highlighted that it had seen strong e-commerce growth (up to four-fold growth since mid-March).
The group began re-opening its stores in the UK and France in the second half of April with like-for-like sales moving from a 74% fall in the first week of April to an increase of 2.7% in the first week of May.
Chief Executive Thierry Garnier said: “Having initially closed our stores in France and the UK, we have rapidly adapted how we operate to meet the essential needs of our customers safely during lockdown.”
He highlighted that Kingfisher had taken “effective actions taken to reduce costs and preserve cash” during the pandemic, with the company having sufficient liquidity headroom based on the assumption of a prolonged period of reduced sales.
“The operational and financial actions we have taken give us a sound footing in the current crisis and beyond,” said Garnier.
“We have adapted to government guidelines, listened to colleague and customer feedback, and made major changes to our operating model in a matter of days. These challenging times have underscored both the agility of our teams and the importance to customers of our offering, which gives me a lot of confidence for the future.”
