The Kingfisher profit guidance upgrade sent shares in the home improvement group up 10% on Tuesday morning, even as its B&Q chain reported a 1.8% drop in like-for-like sales across the UK and Ireland for the second quarter. The result sets up an intriguing final half of the year for a business navigating cautious consumers, record summer heat, and an impending change at the top.
What’s Behind the Kingfisher Profit Guidance Upgrade
Kingfisher now expects full-year underlying pre-tax profit of between £595 million and £635 million, raised from the previous range of £565 million to £625 million. According to Yahoo Finance, the group’s adjusted pre-tax profit for the year ending 31 January 2026 is expected to land between £540 million and £570 million, providing a tighter steer for investors tracking its full-year performance.
For the six months to 31 July, Kingfisher reported a 9.9% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £404 million. That figure was partly aided by a one-off £14 million UK business rates refund. On a statutory basis, pre-tax profits rose 18.4% to £400 million.
The B&Q numbers tell a more complicated story. Alongside the 1.8% like-for-like sales fall in the second quarter, sales of big-ticket items, such as bathroom ranges, dropped 8.1%. The group acknowledged that waning consumer confidence, high inflation and the Iran war were all holding back spending on larger purchases. Even so, the second-quarter figure was less severe than the 4.1% fall recorded in the first quarter, with the group pointing to heatwave-driven demand for seasonal items as a partial offset.
Kingfisher said it had overhauled its bathroom ranges to try to revive big-ticket sales. How quickly that feeds through to the till remains to be tested over the second half.
Screwfix, Online Sales and the Heat Effect
While B&Q stumbled, Screwfix continued to perform strongly. The trade-focused brand posted a 7.1% jump in like-for-like sales in the second quarter, pulling overall UK and Ireland same-store sales to a 1.6% rise in the quarter and 0.4% growth across the half-year.
Record summer heatwaves reshaped what people bought and where they bought it. Demand for air conditioning, cooling products and outdoor living ranges rose. Sales of plants, paint and fencing fell, as the heat discouraged many shoppers from taking on DIY projects. Customers who did shop increasingly did so online, with B&Q app and internet sales climbing 19.3% in the first half.
Kingfisher operates across Europe as well as the UK, with brands including Brico Depot and Castorama. A warm summer had varying effects across those markets too, though the group’s overall tone on the European consumer was similarly cautious.
Analysts at Peel Hunt were broadly positive, writing: ‘Kingfisher is in a good place, in our view. The group has delivered growth despite a lacklustre market backdrop, especially in big ticket.’
Garnier’s Parting Call on Business Rates
Outgoing chief executive Thierry Garnier used a media call to press for reform of the UK business rates system, calling for a level playing field between high-street retailers and online players. He added: ‘I hope larger stores won’t be penalised.’ On the wider economy, he described the consumer spending outlook for the remainder of 2026 as ‘not fantastic’, but fairly stable, and said the business was seeking ‘stability and certainty’.
Garnier has led Kingfisher since September 2019, according to the Ahold Delhaize Newsroom. Before joining Kingfisher, he spent more than two decades at Carrefour, where he held roles including chief executive of Carrefour International and chief executive of Carrefour Asia. He announced plans in May to step down to join Netherlands-headquartered supermarket group Ahold Delhaize, where he is nominated to succeed Frans Muller around the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to be held in April 2027. Kingfisher is continuing its search for his replacement, with Garnier remaining in post in the meantime.
Garnier’s push on business rates is unlikely to be his last. With the UK Budget approaching and no successor yet named at Kingfisher, his voice on retail policy carries weight for a little longer yet.
