LONDON (Reuters) - Home improvements retailer Kingfisher (LON:KGF) reported on Wednesday a 0.6 percent fall in first-quarter sales from stores open for more than a year, due to weak sales in France, where the firm remains cautious about prospects.
Analyst at UBS had estimated sales from stores open for more than a year would increase by 1 percent, while analysts at Davy expected a rise of 0.3 percent.
Kingfisher, which trades as B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets, said like-for-like sales were down 5.5 percent in France, but rose 3.5 percent in Britain and Ireland.
In March, Kingfisher had warned that the effect of the Brexit vote and potential disruption from the French election could hit trade in its two main markets.
Last year, the company detailed a strategy to boost annual profit by 500 million pounds from 2021 that will cost 800 million pounds over five years to deliver. The plan involves unifying product ranges across the business, improving e-commerce capabilities and driving efficiencies.
Kingfisher also said it was also experiencing some business disruption given the volume of change, as it cleared old ranges, marketed new ranges and rolls out a unified IT platform.
However, the company said it remained on track to deliver its 2 year strategic milestones.
Kingfisher, which trades as B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets, said total group sales rose to 2.86 billion pounds in the three months ended April 30 from 2.72 billion pounds in the same period the year before.