Snow early in the year forces Kingfisher Q4 lfl sales growth back into decline after a strong third quarter.
B&Q parent saw like-for-like group sales decline 3% to £2.3bn in its fourth quarter of trading (13 weeks to January 30) after Q3 saw an increase of 5.6%.

Sales were impacted by the adverse weather conditions earlier in the year, which kept shoppers at home, according to group chief exec Ian Cheshire: "Underlying sales trends remained relatively resilient in the fourth quarter before trading in January was significantly disrupted by the heavy snow and low temperatures across Europe, particularly in the UK and Poland."

B&Q saw sales dip in the UK by 3.5% on a like-for-like basis to £836m, "reflecting exceptional adverse weather in January". Prior to the snow, the company reports that lfls were actually slightly up. Gross margins however are expected to be significantly up "reflecting reduced promotional activity compared to Q4 last year, better sales of higher margin products and continued shrinkage reduction and supply chain cost efficiencies," said the trading statement.

Total sales at Screwfix declined 1.4% to £113m.