Kingfisher, Europe's biggest home improvements retailer, posted a 35 per cent rise in first-half profit on Thursday, meeting recently raised forecasts, but said it was braced for difficult trading conditions ahead.
The group, which runs market leaders B&Q in Britain and Castorama in France, said it made a profit before tax and one-off items of £288 millions ($474 million) in the six months to August 1st.
The British firm said last week, after inadvertently releasing some figures to analysts, that first-half profits would be between £285 million and £290 million, ahead of analysts' consensus forecast at that time of £268 million.
Kingfisher said it had been helped by favourable weather, particularly in Britain, as well as a turnaround plan based on cost-cutting, revamping stores, supply chain improvements, expanding in eastern Europe and stemming losses in China.
"Looking forward, given widespread economic uncertainty, we continue to plan for challenging times," it said.