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DIY retailer Kingfisher PLC on Tuesday reported a sharp drop in profit in its most recently ended financial year but said the performance was in-line with its expectations and guidance against a strong comparator year. In the financial year that ended January 31, the B&Q-owner reported a pretax profit of £611 million, down 39% from £1.0 billion the year prior. This reflected lower operating profit and the impact of impairments following significant increases in discount rates and revised future projections, the London-based company explained. Adjusted pretax profit was £758 million, down 20% from £949 million. It was forecasted to decline 22% to £741 million. Kingfisher in November cut its adjusted pretax profit estimate to between £730 million to £760 million, from around £770 million previously. Adjusted earnings per share declined by 16% to 29.7 pence from 35.2p the year before. Basic earnings per share was down by 41% to 23.8 pence from 40.3p the year before. Sales slipped 0.9% year-on-year to £13.06 billion from £13.18 billion. Group like-for-like sales fell 2.1%. This is compared to an expected fall of 2.0%, according to company-compiled consensus. In UK & Ireland, sales dropped by 24% to £603 million from £794 million the year before. In France, sales were down 12% to £195 million from £221 million. Total retail profit fell by 20% to £923 million from £1.15 billion. This was in line with company-compiled consensus. Chief Executive Officer Thierry Garnier said: ‘Across all our markets, sales have remained resilient in both DIY and DIFM/trade channels, with like-for-like sales 15.6% ahead of pre-pandemic levels. We have maintained a sharp focus on pricing to deliver value to our customers during this challenging period for household finances, while at the same time managing our cost inflation pressures effectively.’ Kingfisher declared a final dividend of 8.60 pence per share, unchanged from a year prior. It thus maintained its total dividend at 12.40 pence per share. Looking ahead, the company said it is comfortable with current consensus of sell-side analyst estimates for financial 2024 adjusted pretax profit of £633 million. Kingfisher said in February of the current financial year, sales were up 1.9%, adding that the main driver was a good performance in the UK & Ireland, with LFL sales growth at both B&Q and Screwfix. Additionally, Kingfisher said it expects more than £500 million of free cash flow for the year, and said it intends to announce a new share buyback programme following completion of the existing programme this year. Shares were down 0.3% at 272.60 pence each on Tuesday morning in London. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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