Kingfisher, Europe's biggest home improvements retailer, beat first-quarter profit forecasts and gave further details of a turnaround plan which it said kept its current earnings expectations despite weak sales.
The firm, which runs market leader B&Q in Britain and Castorama in France, said profit before tax, one-off items, goodwill, interest and share of joint ventures rose 8.9 per cent to £96 million in the 13 weeks to May 3rd.
Forecasts ranged from £79 million to £88.9 million.
Strong growth in international markets such as Poland, cost cuts and solid sales of indoor items like kitchens helped to offset the impact of poor weather on outdoor products, the world's third-biggest do-it-yourself group said today.
Europe's retailers have been hit hard by a downturn in consumer spending, which has been exacerbated for home improvement chains by weak housing markets. Home Retail, which runs the Homebase chain, and Germany's Praktiker, have both posted weak sales in recent weeks.
Kingfisher said first-quarter like-for-like sales plunged 7.9 per cent in the UK and were down 1.5 per cent in France.
The firm also gave further details of a turnaround plan which it started to outline in March.
It said the plan, which includes revamping products and stores in Britain, expanding in France and eastern Europe and closing some loss-making Chinese outlets, would help it to keep its targets for earnings and net debt unchanged, even though sales growth would be weaker than previously envisaged.
It did not give details of its earnings or sales forecasts.
Kingfisher shares have lagged the DJ Stoxx European retail index by a third over the past year. They closed at 138.8 pence yesterday, valuing the firm at £3.2 billion.