Kingfisher, Europe's largest home improvement retailer, beat forecasts with a 13.5 per cent rise in first-half profit, driven by a strong performance in Britain and Poland.

The firm, which runs the B&Q and Screwfix chains in Britain, and Castorama, as well as Brico Depot, in France and other states, said it made underlying pretax profit of £436 million (€505 million) in the six months to July 31st.

That compared to analysts’ average forecast of £430 million and £384 million in the previous year.

Total sales rose 2.7 per cent to £5.75 billion on a constant currency basis.

Kingfisher reiterated that in the UK, the European Union referendum result had created uncertainty for the economic outlook, even though there had been no clear evidence of an impact on demand so far on its businesses.

In France the firm remains cautious on the short-term outlook. – (Reuters)