TOP NEWS: Kingfisher suffers annual profit fall but maintains dividend

(Alliance News) - DIY retailer Kingfisher PLC on Tuesday reported a sharp drop in profit in its ...

Alliance News 21 March, 2023 | 9:10AM
Email Form Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RSS

(Alliance News) - DIY retailer Kingfisher PLC on Tuesday reported a sharp drop in profit in its most recently ended financial year but said the performance was in-line with its expectations and guidance against a strong comparator year.

In the financial year that ended January 31, the B&Q-owner reported a pretax profit of GBP611 million, down 39% from GBP1.0 billion the year prior. This reflected lower operating profit and the impact of impairments following significant increases in discount rates and revised future projections, the London-based company explained.

Adjusted pretax profit was GBP758 million, down 20% from GBP949 million. It was forecasted to decline 22% to GBP741 million. Kingfisher in November cut its adjusted pretax profit estimate to between GBP730 million to GBP760 million, from around GBP770 million previously.

Adjusted earnings per share declined by 16% to 29.7 pence from 35.2p the year before. Basic earnings per share was down by 41% to 23.8 pence from 40.3p the year before.

Sales slipped 0.9% year-on-year to GBP13.06 billion from GBP13.18 billion. Group like-for-like sales fell 2.1%. This is compared to an expected fall of 2.0%, according to company-compiled consensus.

In UK & Ireland, sales dropped by 24% to GBP603 million from GBP794 million the year before. In France, sales were down 12% to GBP195 million from GBP221 million.

Total retail profit fell by 20% to GBP923 million from GBP1.15 billion. This was in line with company-compiled consensus.

Chief Executive Officer Thierry Garnier said: "Across all our markets, sales have remained resilient in both DIY and DIFM/trade channels, with like-for-like sales 15.6% ahead of pre-pandemic levels. We have maintained a sharp focus on pricing to deliver value to our customers during this challenging period for household finances, while at the same time managing our cost inflation pressures effectively."

Kingfisher declared a final dividend of 8.60 pence per share, unchanged from a year prior. It thus maintained its total dividend at 12.40 pence per share.

Looking ahead, the company said it is comfortable with current consensus of sell-side analyst estimates for financial 2024 adjusted pretax profit of GBP633 million. Kingfisher said in February of the current financial year, sales were up 1.9%, adding that the main driver was a good performance in the UK & Ireland, with LFL sales growth at both B&Q and Screwfix.

Additionally, Kingfisher said it expects more than GBP500 million of free cash flow for the year, and said it intends to announce a new share buyback programme following completion of the existing programme this year.

Shares were down 0.3% at 272.60 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.

By Xindi Wei, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Email Form Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RSS

Securities Mentioned in Article

Security Name Price Change (%) Morningstar
Rating
Kingfisher PLC 258.30 GBX -3.98

About Author

Alliance News

Alliance News provides Morningstar with continuously updating coverage of news affecting listed companies.

© Copyright 2024 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.

Terms of Use        Privacy Policy        Modern Slavery Statement        Cookie Settings        Disclosures