Kingfisher to fight on for Castorama
RETAIL giant Kingfisher declared its determination to press ahead with a £3.2bn bid for Castorama, despite the 'variety of tactics' being used by the French to scupper the offer. These include publication of Castorama's results earlier this week, which caught Kingfisher chief executive Sir Geoff Mulcahy on the hop and forced the group to rush out its own first-quarter results today.
These show modest sales progress over the 13 weeks to 4 May, with a like-for-like rise of 1.4%. But retail profit grew 25% to £114.6m, excluding exceptional items and goodwill amortisation.
'Overall, we've made a good start to the year, although results for individual-businesses have varied,' said Mulcahy. The B&Q operation turned in another strong performance, with UK sales up 18.9% and like-for-likes ahead 5.9%.
On the electricals and furniture side, including the Comet chain, like-for-like sales were down 5% although profits rose 23% to £13.3m. Kingfisher pointed out, however, that the first quarter is the least important for the division, accounting for only 5% of annual profit.
Kingfisher shareholders are due to vote on the Castorama deal and the planned spin-off of the electricals side on 7 June.
