City analysts have welcomed Kingfisher's latest results and the surprise sales uplift seen by B&Q, which helped the Kingfisher share price shoot up 6.5% on the London exchange (July 24).
"The numbers were pretty reassuring, certainly with regards to the UK," John Guy, an analyst at MF Global in London said.

Mr Guy said he was happy to see better profit margins, although he cautioned against a 'very difficult' second half.

Freddie George at Seymour Pierce said: "It did pretty well didn't it? They were better than expected and now people are confident with forecasts for the current year."

Tony Shiret at house broker Credit Suisse First Boston said: "The results were quite surprising in the context of the non-food retailers we cover.

"It was pleasing to see it was not a complete dog: there were gains in gross margin - supply conditions are working in its favour."

Although the recent second quarter sales was regarded as positive overall, Investec Securities dampened the enthusiasm by saying the state of the economy represents a 'drag' on the business even though it upgraded Kingfisher's full-year profits by 6%.

Total UK sales for parent Kingfisher were up 5.1%, after the opening of 13 new Screwfix and Trade Depot stores; both delivered strong total sales growth of 18.7%.

Elsewhere, the group's like-for-like sales outside the UK were down 4.7%, including a 28% drop at B&Q China, which was hit by changes in housing regulation. Castorama stores in Poland rose 9.3%.

Kingfisher chief executive Ian Cheshire, said: "We have achieved sales growth and taken action to improve gross margins and manage costs in all our major markets.

"As anticipated, the U.K. market remains extremely tough, but we are trading solidly."

The results cap a good month for the ceo who has recently appointed "good guys" in Kevin O'Byrne (ex-DSG International) as financial director and Peter Hogsted (ex-Ikea) as head of International with Matt Tyson ceo of B&Q Asia.