Total sales at the Kingfisher retailer B&Q fell by 5.7% to £913m during the 13 weeks to May 4, 2013, with unseasonably cold temperatures blamed for lower footfall and depressed sales of outdoor products.
Outdoor sales, which usually represent up to 30% of the first trading quarter's revenues, were down 10% during the period. Sales of building products also struggled, but kitchens delivered "a strong performance" according to the retailer.

Sales of indoor decorative products also fared better as customers concentrated their home improvement activities indoors. B&Q Ireland saw one store close as the chain's examinership process came to a conclusion, and "significant rent reductions" are in the pipeline for the rest of the stores.

Screwfix performed notably better, continuing last quarter's winning streak with sales up 12.6% to £155m, a like-for-like increase of 1.7%. The retailer benefitted from new ranges in paint and power tool accessories and the continued roll out of new outlets as well as the successful introduction of a mobile click, pay and collect offer last year. Thanks to eight new openings during the quarter, Screwfix is now trading from 283 outlets.

Kingfisher's overall sales, including international businesses Brico Depot and Castorama, were down 0.4% and 4.2% LfL, resulting in retail profit of £114m. Sales improved towards the end of the quarter, when the weather began to improve.

Kingfisher group chief executive Ian Cheshire said: "Market conditions have remained challenging in the first quarter compounded by the effects of an early Easter and unseasonably cold weather across Europe. As a result, general footfall was down and demand for outdoor maintenance, gardening and leisure products was adversely affected for a second year running.

"These impacts were particularly acute in March which resulted in that month accounting for the vast majority of the quarter's profit decline. However, our performance towards the end of the quarter was encouraging following a return to more normal weather patterns.

"Looking ahead, we still have our key summer season to come and we are ready to capitalise on any improvement in conditions during this peak trading period. We will continue to focus hard on our margin and cost initiatives helping us to reinforce our value credentials with customers during these challenging times.

"Our self-help plan, 'Creating the Leader', is progressing well, improving our customer offer whilst optimising the generation and use of cash to deliver shareholder value."