Half year results for the six months ended 31 July 2024 (unaudited)
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* See page 4 for further details on non-GAAP measures and other terms; ± Net increase in cash and cash equivalents and bank overdrafts
H1 24/25 highlights
· Overall sales in line with our expectations; market share gains in the
- Total sales -1.4% and LFL -2.4%. Q2 LFL -3.8%
-
-
- Resilient core category sales, supported by repairs, maintenance and existing home renovation activity. Recovery in seasonal sales since early July and weak 'big-ticket' sales as expected
· Solid and focused execution against key objectives
- Strong results from our e-commerce marketplace (Group GMV +80.0%) and trade propositions (including TradePoint LFL +7.1%). E-commerce sales penetration now 18.3% (H1 23/24: 16.8%)
- Rapid progress in Castorama France store restructuring and modernisation plan, with works completed or in motion on 13 low-performing stores. Operating costs down 3.0% in
· Strong management of gross margin, costs and inventory
- Maintaining competitive price indices and disciplined promotional activity in all markets (with gross margin % +40bps); retail price inflation flat YoY
- Fully on track to achieve c.
- Strong management of net inventory, down
· Adjusted PBT down 0.5% to
· Free cash flow of
Outlook and guidance (see Section 1 for further details)
· Current trading: Q3 24/25 LFL sales (to date)(2) -0.3%
· FY 24/25 adjusted PBT: range tightened to c.
· FY 24/25 free cash flow: range upgraded to c.
· Share buybacks: accelerating pace of current
· Strongly positioned for growth in 2025 and beyond: more agile, significant structural cost taken out across the Group, and confidence in multiple profitable growth drivers over the medium term
Thierry Garnier, Chief Executive Officer, said:
"Trading overall in the first half was in line with our expectations. This was underpinned by customers continuing to repair, maintain and renovate their existing homes, driving resilient volume trends in our core product categories. As expected, demand for 'big-ticket' categories has remained weak, in line with the broader market, while seasonal category sales trends have improved since early July. Against this backdrop we maintained a strong focus on effectively managing our costs and inventory.
"Our
"I am proud of the unwavering focus of our teams in executing against our strategic priorities, with two key highlights. First, our e-commerce sales penetration improved by 1.5 points to 18.3% and B&Q's e-commerce marketplace reached a 40% share of its online sales. We have also successfully launched Castorama France's marketplace, with
"Reflecting our performance in the first half and our current view of the trading environments in our markets, we have tightened our profit guidance and upgraded our free cash flow guidance for the year. We remain focused on continuing to manage our costs and cash effectively, and driving further market share gains by delivering on our key strategic priorities.
"With positive early signs of a housing market recovery, notably in the
H1 24/25 results summary
· Total sales -1.4% (constant currency) and -1.8% (reported)
· LFL sales -2.4% including a +0.6% leap year impact(4)
- Q2 LFL sales -3.8%, including a -0.5% calendar impact(4)
- Q1 LFL sales -0.9%, including +0.8% calendar impact and +1.1% leap year impact
· Sales by region:
-
-
-
· Sales by category:
- Core* (64% of sales): continued resilience (LFL -1.1%) driven by repair, maintenance and renovation activity on existing homes
- 'Big-ticket'* (14% of sales): weak sales as expected (LFL -6.8%) reflecting trends across the broader market
- Seasonal* (22% of sales): lower sales (LFL -3.1%) given unfavourable weather conditions across much of April to June
· Retail price inflation flat year-on-year (YoY); negative mix impact on average selling price from lower 'big-ticket' sales. Overall volume lower YoY, with stable underlying volume trends in core categories between Q1 and Q2
· Total e-commerce sales* +8.4%, driven by growth in the
- E-commerce sales penetration* of 18.3% (H1 23/24: 16.8%)
- Continued strong growth of e-commerce marketplace sales at B&Q and Brico Dépôt Iberia*; Group marketplace GMV* +80.0% YoY
· Gross margin % +40 basis points to 36.7% (H1 23/24: 36.3%) reflecting effective management of product costs, retail prices and supplier negotiations, and lower clearance costs and stock provisions
· Retail profit -2.7% in constant currency to
· Statutory PBT +2.3% to
· Adjusted PBT -0.5% to
· Free cash flow of
· Net increase in cash of
· Net debt down to
· Interim dividend per share declared of 3.80p (FY 23/24 interim dividend: 3.80p)
The remainder of this release consists of eight main sections:
1) Financial performance summary and current trading & outlook
2) Trading review by division
3) Update on
4) Strategy update
5) Technical guidance for FY 24/25
6) Financial review (and, in part 2 of this announcement, the condensed financial statements)
7) Glossary
8) Forward-looking statements
Footnotes
(1) Net debt includes
(2) 'Q3 24/25 LFL sales (to date)' represents the period from 28 July to 14 September 2024 compared against the equivalent period in the prior year (i.e., 30 July to 16 September 2023). The figures are provisional and exclude certain non-cash accounting adjustments relating to revenue recognition.
(3) Guidance assumes current exchange rates.
(4) Leap year impact reflects the impact of an extra day of trading on Thursday 29 February 2024. The estimated impact of the leap year on Q1 24/25 LFL sales was +1.1%, carrying through to an impact on H1 24/25 LFL sales of +0.6%. Calendar impact represents the impact of the annual calendar shift on LFL sales growth due to different days of the week falling into or out of the current period compared to the prior period. For example, historically, higher trading is seen on a Friday and Saturday as compared to a Sunday. This includes the impact of national public holidays falling on different days of the week compared to the prior period. The estimated impact of the annual calendar shift on Q1 24/25 LFL sales was +0.8%, and for Q2 24/25 LFL sales was -0.5%, carrying through to an overall impact on H1 24/25 LFL sales of nil.
Non-GAAP measures and other terms
Throughout this release '*' indicates the first instance of a term defined and explained in the Glossary (Section 7). Not all the figures and ratios used are readily available from the unaudited half year results included in part 2 of this announcement. Management believes that these non-GAAP measures (or 'Alternative Performance Measures'), including adjusted profit measures, constant currency and like-for-like (LFL) sales growth, are useful and necessary to assist the understanding of the Group's results. Where required, a reconciliation to statutory amounts is set out in the Financial Review (Section 6).
Contacts
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Tel: |
Email: |
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Investor Relations |
+44 (0) 20 7644 1082 |
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Media Relations |
+44 (0) 20 7644 1030 |
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Teneo |
+44 (0) 20 7420 3184 |
Half year results announcement and data tables
This announcement and data tables for H1 24/25 can be downloaded from the Investors section of our website at www.kingfisher.com/investors.
Results presentation and Q&A
A pre-recorded analyst and investor presentation will be broadcast via the Investors section of our website at www.kingfisher.com at 08.30 (
For enquiries, please email investorenquiries@kingfisher.com.
Financial calendar
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Q3 24/25 trading update |
25 November 2024 |
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Full year results |
25 March 2025± |
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Q1 25/26 trading update |
28 May 2025± |
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Half year results |
23 September 2025± |
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Q3 25/26 trading update |
25 November 2025± |
± Dates are provisional and may be subject to change
American Depository Receipts
Kingfisher American Depository Receipts are traded in the US on the OTCQX platform: (OTCQX: KGFHY) www.otcmarkets.com/stock/KGFHY/quote.
Section 1: Financial performance summary and current trading & outlook
H1 24/25 income statement summary
|
£m |
|
|
|
% Total Change |
% Total Change |
% LFL Change |
|
|
|
2024/25 |
2023/24 |
Reported |
Constant currency |
Constant currency |
|
Sales |
|
6,756 |
6,880 |
(1.8)% |
(1.4)% |
(2.4)% |
|
Gross profit |
|
2,480 |
2,495 |
(0.6)% |
(0.2)% |
|
|
Retail profit: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
325 |
306 |
+6.1% |
+6.2% |
|
|
|
|
69 |
104 |
(33.6)% |
(32.0)% |
|
|
|
|
50 |
35 |
+40.8% |
+35.3% |
|
|
Iberia |
|
6 |
3 |
+80.4% |
+84.7% |
|
|
|
|
(6) |
(10) |
+39.4% |
+37.5% |
|
|
Other± |
|
(18) |
(10) |
(69.8)% |
(73.7)% |
|
|
|
|
(6) |
5 |
n/a |
n/a |
|
|
Other International* |
|
26 |
23 |
+13.9% |
+9.0% |
|
|
Retail profit |
|
420 |
433 |
(3.0)% |
(2.7)% |
|
|
Central costs |
|
(29) |
(36) |
(20.5)% |
|
|
|
Share of JV interest and tax |
|
(7) |
(11) |
n/a |
|
|
|
Operating profit |
|
384 |
386 |
(0.6)% |
|
|
|
Net finance costs |
|
(50) |
(50) |
(1.4)% |
|
|
|
Adjusted PBT |
|
334 |
336 |
(0.5)% |
|
|
|
Adjusting items |
|
(10) |
(19) |
n/a |
|
|
|
Statutory PBT |
|
324 |
317 |
+2.3% |
|
|
± 'Other' consists of the consolidated results of Screwfix International, NeedHelp, and results from franchise and wholesale agreements. On 18 July 2024, we completed a divestment of our c.80% equity interest in NeedHelp.
Quarterly LFL sales
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H1 LFL sales by category
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Trading in Q2 24/25
LFL sales were down by 3.8% in Q2, and by 3.3% excluding calendar impacts. This was broadly in line with underlying trading in Q1 (i.e., LFL -2.8%, excluding calendar and leap year impacts). We saw resilience in tools & hardware and building & joinery product sales, supported by robust demand from DIFM* and trade customer channels. Due to unfavourable weather conditions, seasonal sales underperformed in all our key markets (
In the
In
In
Current trading
Q3 24/25 LFL sales (to date)(3) are down by 0.3%. Trading in the
Update and progress against market outlook for FY 24/25
At the start of this year, to support our planning for FY 24/25, we assessed various scenarios for the growth of our total addressable home improvement markets in the
|
|
Our expectation of total addressable |
|
|
|
Low case |
High case |
|
|
Low-single digit decline |
Flat |
|
|
Mid-single digit decline |
Low-single digit decline |
|
|
Flat |
Low-single digit growth |
In the
In
In
Guidance for FY 24/25
Against the backdrop described above, our focus remains on growing ahead of our markets by leveraging our key strategic priorities. We continue to be strongly focused on effectively managing our product costs and retail prices, as well demonstrated in H1.
In line with our guidance, we are fully on track to achieve c.
Based on our performance in H1 and our current view of the trading environments in our markets, we now expect FY 24/25 adjusted PBT of c.
We have also upgraded our FY 24/25 free cash flow guidance range to c.
The Group's medium-term financial priorities and capital allocation priorities are unchanged. Please refer to Section 4 for further details.
Footnotes
(1) Leap year impact reflects the impact of an extra day of trading on Thursday 29 February 2024. The estimated impact of the leap year on Q1 24/25 LFL sales was +1.1%, carrying through to an impact on H1 24/25 LFL sales of +0.6%. Calendar impact represents the impact of the annual calendar shift on LFL sales growth due to different days of the week falling into or out of the current period compared to the prior period. For example, historically, higher trading is seen on a Friday and Saturday as compared to a Sunday. This includes the impact of national public holidays falling on different days of the week compared to the prior period. The estimated impact of the annual calendar shift on Q1 24/25 LFL sales was +0.8%, and for Q2 24/25 LFL sales was -0.5%, carrying through to an overall impact on H1 24/25 LFL sales of nil.
(2) Total e-commerce sales are first-party e-commerce sales plus marketplace gross sales. References to digital or e-commerce sales growth relates to growth in constant currency and covers the total Group.
(3) Q3 24/25 LFL sales (to date) represents the period from 28 July to 14 September 2024 compared against the equivalent period in the prior year (i.e., 30 July to 16 September 2023). The figures are provisional and exclude certain non-cash accounting adjustments relating to revenue recognition.
Section 2: Trading review by division
Note: all commentary below is in constant currency.
|
£m |
H1 2024/25 |
H1 2023/24 |
% Reported Change
|
% Constant Currency Change |
% LFL Change |
|
B&Q |
2,075 |
2,101 |
(1.2)% |
(1.2)% |
(1.0)% |
|
Screwfix |
1,301 |
1,245 |
+4.5% |
+4.5% |
+1.2% |
|
Total sales |
3,376 |
3,346 |
+0.9% |
+1.0% |
(0.2)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Retail profit |
325 |
306 |
+6.1% |
+6.2% |
|
|
Retail profit margin % |
9.6% |
9.2% |
+40bps |
+40bps |
|
Retail profit increased by 6.2% to
B&Q total sales decreased by 1.2% (LFL -1.0%) to
B&Q's trade-focused banner, TradePoint, delivered a strong performance driven by demand in the DIFM and trade customer segment. LFL sales for TradePoint were up 7.1%, with penetration of B&Q sales up by two percentage points to 22% (H1 23/24: 20%). This was supported by strong performances in its surfaces & décor and building & joinery categories. Sales of 'big-ticket' categories to trade customers were resilient, particularly in bathroom & storage, outperforming the rest of B&Q. TradePoint's loyalty programme continues to resonate with tradespeople, with new sign ups increasing by 22% YoY, and the business remains focused on strengthening relationships with its customers through further investment in dedicated sales partners, now present in 44 stores and driving a clear uplift in sales. TradePoint is present in 208 stores within the B&Q network (67% of stores).
Screwfix total sales increased by 4.5% (LFL +1.2%) to
Space growth and acquisitions contributed c.3% to total Screwfix sales. Screwfix opened 16 new stores - 15 in the
Further progressing its international expansion plans, Screwfix opened five stores in
|
£m |
H1 2024/25 |
H1 2023/24 |
% Reported Change
|
% Constant Currency Change |
% LFL Change |
|
Castorama |
1,094 |
1,213 |
(9.8)% |
(7.7)% |
(7.7)% |
|
Brico Dépôt |
1,005 |
1,098 |
(8.5)% |
(6.3)% |
(6.8)% |
|
Total sales |
2,099 |
2,311 |
(9.2)% |
(7.0)% |
(7.2)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Retail profit |
69 |
104 |
(33.6)% |
(32.0)% |
|
|
Retail profit margin % |
3.3% |
4.5% |
(120)bps |
(120)bps |
|
Retail profit decreased by 32.0% to
Castorama total sales decreased by 7.7% (LFL -7.7%) to
Brico Dépôt total sales decreased by 6.3% (LFL -6.8%) to
OTHER INTERNATIONAL
|
|
H1 2024/25 |
H1 2023/24 |
% Reported Change
|
% Constant Currency Change |
% LFL Change |
|
|
Sales (£m) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
941 |
880 |
+6.9% |
+2.8% |
(0.2)% |
|
|
Iberia |
200 |
200 |
(0.1)% |
+2.3% |
+2.3% |
|
|
|
132 |
137 |
(3.6)% |
(0.6)% |
+1.5% |
|
|
Other± |
8 |
6 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
|
|
Other International |
1,281 |
1,223 |
+4.8% |
+2.6% |
+0.3% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Retail profit (£m) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
50 |
35 |
+40.8% |
+35.3% |
|
|
|
Iberia |
6 |
3 |
+80.4% |
+84.7% |
|
|
|
|
(6) |
(10) |
+39.4% |
+37.5% |
|
|
|
Other± |
(18) |
(10) |
(69.8)% |
(73.7)% |
|
|
|
|
(6) |
5 |
n/a |
n/a |
|
|
|
Other International |
26 |
23 |
+13.9% |
+9.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Retail profit margin % |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5.3% |
4.0% |
+130bps |
+130bps |
|
|
|
Other International |
2.0% |
1.8% |
+20bps |
+10bps |
|
|
± 'Other' consists of the consolidated results of Screwfix International, NeedHelp, and results from franchise and wholesale agreements. On 18 July 2024, we completed a divestment of our c.80% equity interest in NeedHelp.
Other International total sales increased by 2.6% (LFL +0.3%) to
Space growth contributed c.3% to total
Gross margin % increased by 140 basis points, reflecting effective management of product costs, retail prices and supplier negotiations, and a lower stock provision movement. Retail profit increased by 35.3% to
Iberia total sales increased by 2.3% (LFL +2.3%) to
In
Including our share of Koçtaş' interest and tax (H1 24/25:
'Other' consists of the consolidated results of Screwfix International, NeedHelp, and franchise and wholesale agreements. In line with our expectations, a combined retail loss of
RETAIL BANNER EMPLOYEES, STORE NUMBERS AND SALES AREA
|
|
Employees (FTE) at 31 July 2024 |
Store numbers |
Sales area(1) (000s m2) at 31 July 2024 |
|
B&Q |
15,058 |
309 |
2,195 |
|
Screwfix |
9,898 |
938 |
57 |
|
|
24,956 |
1,247 |
2,252 |
|
Castorama |
10,132 |
95 |
1,150 |
|
Brico Dépôt |
8,038 |
126 |
880 |
|
|
18,170 |
221 |
2,030 |
|
|
12,076 |
106 |
881 |
|
Iberia |
1,871 |
31 |
195 |
|
|
2,261 |
32 |
227 |
|
Other(2) |
270 |
25 |
1 |
|
Other International |
16,478 |
194 |
1,304 |
|
Total |
59,604 |
1,662 |
5,586 |
(1) Screwfix sales area relates to the front of counter area of an outlet.
(2) 'Other' consists of Screwfix International, NeedHelp, and franchising and wholesaling. On 18 July 2024, we completed a divestment of our c.80% equity interest in NeedHelp.
Section 3: Update on
In March we announced a new plan for Castorama and Brico Dépôt, designed to drive the next level in our performance and profitability in
· Simplifying the
· A clear and actionable plan for Castorama, and
· Building on the exciting potential of Brico Dépôt
These actions support a medium-term retail profit margin target for
Simplifying the
· The structural simplification of the French organisation is complete
· The '
·
· Pascal Gil started his new role as CEO of Castorama France in April. Laurent Vittoz (CEO of Brico Dépôt
A clear and actionable plan for Castorama France
· Restructuring and modernising the store network - Castorama is making rapid progress in the restructuring and modernisation of its lowest performing stores. As planned, the business has completed two rightsizings in H1, with a further store due to complete in H2. In addition, Castorama has accelerated its schedule and will commence works on one further rightsizing in H2. All rightsized stores will, at the same time, benefit from a comprehensive store refit, along with one additional low-performing store. The refits will be similar to the concept successfully applied at the Castorama Englos store last year. Five more low-performing stores have also benefited from a lighter refresh, four of which were completed in H1. The transfer to Brico Dépôt of one low-performing Castorama store is in motion, with the store due to close in October and re-open in Q1 25/26 under the Brico Dépôt banner. And we are making good progress towards our goal to start tests for two franchise stores within the next nine months
· Improving operating margin efficiency - Castorama continues to make strong progress in structurally lowering its cost base across multiple areas. Key highlights in H1 included further optimising its store colleague operating model in line with seasonal demand, further reducing energy usage, strengthening measures to reduce shrinkage, and negotiating more favourable service contracts with providers of waste management and call centre services. The business is also focused on greater operating margin efficiency by leveraging AI and data-driven solutions, as well as scaling higher margin initiatives such as e-commerce marketplace and retail media. Following successful results at B&Q, Castorama will start to leverage Kingfisher's AI-driven markdown, clearance and promotional effectiveness solutions in H2. Castorama continues to enable advertising for product display and sponsored search, with the business now marketing its retail media to its entire supplier base
· Growing sales densities - Castorama launched its e-commerce marketplace in March, and has seen positive early results. Its immediate focus is on scaling up the number of 3P SKUs available for sale. Please refer to 'Accelerate e-commerce through speed and choice' in Section 4 for further information. To support its aim of growing trade customer penetration, in H1 Castorama launched tests of dedicated customer service experts and a new trade loyalty programme in eight stores, two of which include dedicated trade desks. The business has also started to pilot new energy efficiency 'project zones' in store, supported by dedicated colleagues, to help customers purchase energy-saving products in line with green government subsidies
Building on the exciting potential of Brico Dépôt
· Driving LFL sales - Brico Dépôt continued to strengthen its price leadership in H1 through selective investment in key lines. The business has broadened its product ranges by releasing more OEBs at lower price points, such as the new entry-level Pragma kitchen range which has been very well received by customers
· Capturing the trade opportunity - following successful tests in 24 stores, Brico Dépôt rolled out dedicated trade desks, customer service experts and a new trade loyalty programme to its entire store network in H1. The initiative is yielding positive early results, including higher frequency of trade customer visits and average basket values
· Testing and optimising the 1,000 sqm compact store format - the business opened one further compact store in H1, with three such formats now in operation. As a reminder, the concept allows customers to access the entire core Brico Dépôt range (c.11k SKUs) in an area of under 1,000 sqm, with a separate space to allow larger and bulk purchases to be collected. The format is seeing encouraging early results, and the focus in H2 is on improving store marketing, colleague training and further optimising store operations
· Further improving costs and productivity - similar to Castorama (as noted above), Brico Dépôt is implementing multiple actions to structurally lower its cost base. In H1 the business also expanded its use of technology to drive greater productivity, including electronic price labels (to allow price changes to be implemented more dynamically) and self-checkout terminals. Brico Dépôt has also reduced its distribution centre space, resulting in lower logistics costs
Section 4: Strategy update
Better Homes. Better Lives. For Everyone. At Kingfisher, we believe a better world starts with better homes and we strive to help make that happen.
Put simply, our strategic plan - 'Powered by Kingfisher' - aims to maximise the benefits of combining our distinct retail banners (which serve a range of different customer needs) with the scale, strength and expertise of Kingfisher. We are continuing to invest for growth in multiple areas of the business, underscoring our confidence in the medium to longer-term outlook for home improvement growth in our markets. The following section covers the progress made in H1 against our strategic plan.
a) Grow by building on our different banners
Our retail banners occupy number one or two positions in our key markets. These banners address a diverse range of customer needs, each operating different models tailored to these needs, with clear positionings and plans. Our goal is to grow by building on our different formats in existing and new markets, leveraging the power of Kingfisher. We believe net space growth will drive an uplift in sales of c.+1.5% to +2.5% per annum over the medium term.
B&Q
· We believe there are approximately 50 catchments or geographic 'white spaces' in the
· Following various tests and adaptations over the last three years, B&Q has now fully validated its retail park format. After being initially tested as a 'small retail park' compact store format, the validated format is between 2,000-4,000 sqm, enabling more area in store to be dedicated to inspiration (for example, for kitchen, bathroom & storage), garden centres and addressing the needs of trade customers. B&Q currently has 13 retail park stores, and plans to open one more in H2 and up to four further stores in FY 25/26
· We also currently have 11 'B&Q Local' stores in
TradePoint
· B&Q's trade-focused banner, TradePoint, has 208 trade counters (i.e., within 67% of B&Q's stores)
· In H1 the business updated 13 of its older trade counters by converting storage rooms to customer-accessible areas, allowing customers to see more products
· TradePoint continued to test solutions to increase TradePoint's penetration into smaller stores; for example by installing TradePoint signage at payment tills and creating smaller dedicated TradePoint areas with trade ranges. Please refer to 'Develop our trade business' below for further details
Screwfix -
· Opened 16 stores in H1, including 15 in the
· On track to open 40 new stores in the
· This includes its ultra-compact format 'Screwfix City' stores, with nine such stores currently in operation. The business aims to open up to 100 of these formats over the next few years. Please refer to 'Roll out compact store formats' below for further details
Screwfix - International
· In H1 Screwfix opened five stores in
· Planning to open five more stores in H2 with our primary focus being to continue growing brand awareness and store traffic. Assuming the success of the format is confirmed, we see the potential for more than 600 stores in
· Continuing to refine our Screwfix.eu proposition, Screwfix's pure-play online retail operations in six European countries (
Brico Dépôt
· Opened one compact store in H1 - an innovative 1,000 sqm format allowing customers access to the entire core range in a smaller area. Three such formats now in operation with positive customer reactions to date
Castorama Poland
· Opened four stores in H1 (three big-box and one compact 'Castorama Smart' store) with positive early trading. Planning to open one further store in H2, and remain on track to open up to 75 stores over the next five years
b) Accelerate e-commerce through speed and choice
We will continue to grow our e-commerce sales and participation, with the ambition of reaching 30% of Group sales from e-commerce channels (with one third of that from marketplace). We will do this by offering our customers 'speed' - faster fulfilment of orders through leveraging our store estate - and 'choice' - broader product choice, including via our e-commerce marketplace propositions. This will be supported by the ongoing modernisation and simplification of our technology landscape, which is unlocking the rapid development of powerful data and AI capabilities as well as more customer-centric and personalised mobile apps, digital tools, and services.
H1 performance highlights
· Total e-commerce sales, which include gross sales from third-party (3P) e-commerce marketplace transactions, as well as first-party (1P) e-commerce sales*, reached over £1.2bn in H1, an increase of 8.4% YoY (in constant currency). Driven by strong marketplace sales growth at B&Q and Brico Dépôt Iberia, and higher 1P e-commerce sales at Screwfix
· Overall e-commerce sales penetration was 18.3% (H1 23/24: 16.8%)
· Overall marketplace GMV of
· Click & collect (C&C) sales up 4% YoY, accounting for 64% of total e-commerce sales (H1 23/24: 67%) and 87% of 1P e-commerce orders (H1 23/24: 87%)
· Home delivery sales up 17% YoY, reflecting the continued development of our e-commerce marketplace and same-day delivery propositions
· 93% of the Group's 1P e-commerce orders were picked in-store (H1 23/24: 92%); excluding Screwfix: 87% (H1 23/24: 89%)
· In H1, app sales grew +58% YoY, accounting for 17% of total e-commerce sales (H1 23/24: 13%). Screwfix app sales participation increased to 41% (i.e., Screwfix's app sales divided by Screwfix's total e-commerce sales; H1 23/24: 25%) following a successful app marketing campaign in February
· B&Q marketplace GMV of
· Marketplace participation of 22% at Brico Dépôt Iberia; successfully launched the Castorama France marketplace in Q1 and on track to launch Castorama Poland's marketplace in H2
Leveraging our store estate to offer customers speed and convenience
· Store-based fulfilment - in H1 we continued to roll out our new order management system at B&Q, enabling multi-site sourcing of customer orders. The new system is driving significant improvements in product availability as well as lower delivery lead-times. B&Q also updated its store systems to deliver near real-time product availability for customers, thereby reducing online order cancellation rates
· Home delivery - Screwfix continued to extend its Sprint service in the
· Online customer journey - in H1 we strengthened B&Q's website search and browse capabilities, delivering an improvement of up to 50% across a number of speed and performance measures. Roll-out to Castorama France and Castorama Poland is planned for later this year
Offering our customers more choice on what they shop and how they shop
· Mobile apps - app customers generally shop at a higher frequency and have higher conversion rates than web customers, and marketing for app customers is more easily tailored. In H1, B&Q and Screwfix both increased their use of Braze, an external customer relationship management platform. Braze is enabling more efficient marketing with c.30m personalised offers being sent per month, driving growth in app users, which now stands at over 3m active app customers across both banners
· Marketplace - at B&Q, our marketplace continues to significantly boost e-commerce growth, standing at 40% of its online sales in H1, supported by c.1,300 carefully selected 3P merchants and c.1.5m SKUs available on diy.com. Brico Depot Iberia's marketplace is also growing rapidly, representing 22% of its online sales in H1 with c.200 3P merchants and c.200k SKUs. Castorama
· Marketplace strengthens our 1P business with a highly complementary 3P SKU offering. Products such as bed frames, mattresses and bedroom furniture were among our top-selling marketplace products in H1. At B&Q, c.50% of people who purchased a marketplace product in H1 were new customers who had never shopped with the business before. We also saw that c.20% of customers who purchased a 3P marketplace product for the first time subsequently purchased a 1P product on diy.com within the next six months. We expect this 'transference rate' to continue growing
· The Group's priorities for H2 are to enable B&Q's marketplace to on-board sellers from outside the
NeedHelp update
· In 2020, Kingfisher acquired approximately 80% of the equity of NeedHelp. Through its online marketplace, NeedHelp provides installation services to customers of home improvement retailers, including Castorama France, Brico Dépôt
· In July, we sold our equity interest in NeedHelp back to the original founder (and its current CEO) for nil proceeds, resulting in a loss on disposal of
· Following this divestment, NeedHelp's services will continue to be offered to our customers in Castorama France, Brico Dépôt
c) Build a data-led customer experience
Powered by Kingfisher, our banners are leveraging data and artificial intelligence (AI) to build customer-centric tools and solutions, support better commercial decision-making and higher productivity, thereby unlocking significant new sources of revenue, profit and cash. In addition, with c.1bn customer visits per annum across our e-commerce touchpoints, we believe that many of our suppliers - including leading national and international home improvement brands - could become advertisers. Over time, we see the potential for retail media income to reach up to 3% of the Group's total e-commerce sales.
Progress in H1 against our data strategy key pillars of top-line growth, strengthening margin, streamlining operations and new income streams are highlighted below.
Top-line growth
· Our AI-powered product recommendation and personalisation engines offer enhanced customer experience through multiple solutions such as 'frequently bought together' carousels and 'substitute products'. This suite of solutions is now in all key markets, with roll-out to all banners targeted by year-end. In H1, our recommendation engines delivered c.
· During H1, Castorama France expanded the capabilities of Hello Casto, an in-house developed AI home improvement virtual assistant, to cover questions on all product categories. We are now seeing c.100k conversations on Hello Casto per month, contributing up to 10% of Castorama's online sales
· Kingfisher has developed innovative visual search technology to help customers find the right products to complete their job. The solution involves a customer or colleague taking a photograph of a product or component, and the technology scans the entire product catalogue to quickly identify it. Screwfix is testing this in 11 stores with the ambition of integrating the technology into its app, making it easier for customers to identify replacement parts. Tests are also planned at B&Q, Castorama France and Castorama Poland
Strengthening margin
· Kingfisher has developed AI-driven tools to optimise promotions, markdowns and clearance processes in-store and online. The solutions were deployed at B&Q last year, which has seen significant improvements to its clearance product margins. Since launch, over 300 promotional events have been planned or delivered using this solution, resulting in improved sales, gross margin % and sell-through of stock. The solutions will start to be implemented in Castorama France in H2
Streamlining operations
· Our in-house developed end-to-end supply chain visibility tool (SVT) is now implemented in all banners across the Group. Please refer to 'Human, agile and lean' below for further details
· Kingfisher has also developed a stock forecasting algorithm, powered by AI, for use initially at our French banners. Early results are encouraging, showing a significant improvement in forecast accuracy at Brico Dépôt
New income streams: Retail Media
· Our retail media capabilities are rapidly expanding, with over 70 1P vendors currently engaging in over 1,500 live campaigns using sponsored product ads at B&Q, Castorama France and Brico Dépôt
· We are also starting to extend our retail media capabilities to 3P marketplace sellers, which we believe will be a significant opportunity. In May, B&Q extended retail media capabilities to a group of 30 marketplace sellers, running 200 sponsored products campaigns with an average Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) of over 600%, far exceeding industry averages
· In H2, we aim to further improve our website infrastructure to enable the launch of more ad placements. Testing of retail media has begun in Screwfix, and launches at Castorama Poland and Brico Dépôt Iberia have been planned for H2
· We are in the early stages of building a paid-for solution for vendors which provides them access to a set of KPIs (e.g., time spent on a product pages) to help them optimise their advertising campaigns with valuable performance insights
d) Differentiate and win through own exclusive brands (OEB)
Our OEB product development is a significant source of value for our retail banners and their customers. OEBs provide us with the ability to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the market by delivering simple and innovative solutions at affordable prices, with a focus on reducing environmental impact. OEBs also carry a higher gross margin (on average) than branded products. We aim to grow our OEB sales further as we bring even more innovative and affordable solutions to our customers.
H1 performance highlights
· Total OEB sales of
· LFL sales of our OEB ranges were down 5.2%, impacted in part by the performance of our 'big-ticket' categories due to its relatively higher weighting towards OEB products. OEB seasonal categories were also lower due to unseasonal weather conditions during H1. We saw a strong performance from our repairs and maintenance focused OEB categories such as tools & hardware
· In H1, 61% of OEB product sales were from Sustainable Home Products (SHPs) (H1 23/24: 56%). SHPs are intended to help reduce the environmental impact within our homes, and/or use materials and manufacturing methods which could have a lower environmental impact. Our target is to reach 70% by FY 25/26. We see considerable longer-term potential across all our markets as the 'green homes' agenda accelerates, in particular in the
· During the period we focused our marketing and product development on repairs and maintenance categories. This involved increasing customer awareness through digital marketing campaigns, including partnerships with social media influencers to generate more OEB product reviews. This helped repair and maintenance categories outperform non-repair and maintenance categories by approximately nine percentage points
Progress in H1 against our three pillars of OEB product development - innovation, affordability and reducing environmental impact - are detailed below:
· Innovation - our product development process is centred around making the completion of home improvement tasks easier. Through a deep understanding of customer needs and frustrations, we are able to tailor our product development to address gaps in the market. During H1 we launched our Cooke & Lewis 'Odalia' taps range, which includes an innovative new installation tool. 'Odalia' taps also help customers save water with a built-in regulator which mixes air into the water flow, thereby reducing the amount of water used. We also launched a new Erbauer nail gun which has increased durability, requiring a service every three years instead of annually, making it more reliable than equivalent branded products
· Affordability - our aim is to provide more affordable products for our customers with a target of being 15-30% cheaper, on average, than branded alternatives. We achieve this through strengthening our product ranges at the 'opening price points' and lowest retail price quartiles. For example, in H1 we launched our 'Pragma' modular kitchen range, which is c.15% cheaper than other local branded kitchen ranges. 'Pragma' has so far launched at Brico Dépôt
· Reducing environmental impact - we remain committed to helping our customers reduce their impact on the environment by embedding environmental considerations at the core of our OEB proposition. For example, in H1 we launched our Jacobsen range of switches and sockets which is made of 60% recycled plastic. We continued to extend our Green Star product marker programme at B&Q, Screwfix, and Castorama Poland, now reaching c.9k SKUs, which makes it easier for customers to identify and purchase products that have a reduced impact on the environment. Examples of products launched in H1 that were awarded the Green Star include our new GoodHome 'Classy' range of flooring and GoodHome 'Italo' vinyl flooring range, which are both plastic-free
e) Develop our trade business
Trade customers are an integral part of the home improvement ecosystem and a key priority for Kingfisher. Trade customers tend to visit more frequently and spend more than the average retail customer. The significant opportunities to engage further with trade customers include the further roll-out of trade counters and expansion across our banners, range expansion and improved merchandising, building deeper relationships with trade customers, new services, loyalty programme optimisation and digital enhancements. We are aiming to reach more than
Progress against our six key trade strategy pillars - stores, range and price, people, services, loyalty and digital - is described below:
Stores
· TradePoint updated 13 of its older trade counters by converting storage rooms to customer-accessible areas, allowing customers to see more products. The business is also testing solutions to increase its penetration into smaller B&Q stores
· Following strong results from tests of dedicated trade service desks and colleagues (more than doubling trade sales penetration), Brico Dépôt
· Castorama Poland expanded its 'CastoPro' tests to nine stores, providing dedicated spaces to serve trade customers and bring together key trade 'grab and go' convenience lines. The business is seeing strong early results from the 'CastoPro' concept and will continue its steady roll-out in H2
Range and price
· During the period we continued to add trade-specific branded products to our assortment, based on demand from trade customers. For example, CTS sealants, OX hand tools and Makita radios were added at TradePoint in H1 in line with demand
· We are also increasing customer awareness of our OEB trade-focussed ranges. For example, new standalone marketing displays were added across the Group of our Site workwear ranges for men and women, with customers able to try on before buying
People
· Dedicated TradePoint sales partners have been recruited in 44 stores to date, aiming to build more direct and personalised relationships with trade customers. Results to date have been strong. TradePoint has seen an uplift in sales from trade customers that sales partners have been working with directly, with a c.5% total trade sales uplift compared to stores without sales partners
· Castorama Poland and Brico Dépôt Iberia have also implemented dedicated customer service experts to engage with trade customers, introducing them to trade-specific benefits and generating sign-ups to their loyalty programmes. Brico Dépôt
· We aim to extend the roll-out of this approach to more stores in the
Services
· We continue to test and implement value-add services for our trade customers, including tool rental, waste management and payment financing
· Following successful trials, Castorama Poland expanded its CastoRent tool rental service to all its big and medium-box stores, providing low-cost access and increasing customer exposure to our Erbauer and MacAllister OEBs
· During the period TradePoint expanded its 'Direct-to-Site' offer to supply trade customers with the products they need beyond our stocked range in-store, enabling it to convert more inbound sales enquiries to orders
· After successful trials and high customer demand, deferred payment solutions have now been rolled out to all Brico Dépôt
Loyalty
· Loyalty programmes for trade customers are now active in all our markets, with strong membership sign-ups and higher levels of visit frequency
· Highlights include the 'CastoPro' membership in Castorama Poland, which was extended to all its stores in February following successful tests. The programme has seen c.210k sign-ups since launch
· Following tests last year, the 'BricoPro' loyalty programme at Brico Dépôt
Digital
· Our C&C and online propositions help trade customers plan and prepare for their projects so that tools and materials are available when and where they need them
· Screwfix Sprint continues to deliver essential items to trade customers within one hour, available exclusively through the Screwfix app, with the proposition added to 100 additional stores in H1
· We are preparing the launch of trade-specific apps at TradePoint and Castorama Poland. The Castorama Poland app will give customers access to a virtual 'CastoPro' loyalty card, displaying their active discount level and spend required to reach the next discount tier. The TradePoint app will provide a tailored experience, enabling trade customers to place orders, find stores, track loyalty progress and receive personalised offers
f) Roll out compact store formats
Our home improvement banners operate over 2,000 stores across eight countries in
We are making good progress in testing different concepts in different catchments to unlock the compact store opportunity. We currently have 33 active tests across three markets and five retail banners (B&Q, Screwfix, Castorama France, Brico Dépôt
· High street tests (300-1,000 sqm) - tests delivering encouraging learnings and results. We have 15 high street concept stores open in the
· Small retail park tests (800-2,000 sqm) - operating in
· Screwfix
· Brico Dépôt
g) Lead the industry in Responsible Business and energy efficiency
We are committed to leading our industry in responsible business practices and energy efficiency. Building on our strong Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) credentials, our 'Powered by Kingfisher' strategy sets out four priority areas for Responsible Business where we can maximise our positive impact on the lives of our customers, colleagues, communities, and the planet. As the 'green homes' agenda accelerates, we see considerable potential for our Sustainable Home Products.
In H1 we continued to make strong progress against our four Responsible Business priorities:
Colleagues: Becoming a more inclusive company
· Remuneration - we continue to closely monitor the cost of living in each of our markets and, accordingly, implement timely salary increases. We have responded swiftly to changes to the National Minimum Wage or local equivalent, helping Kingfisher remain one of the most competitive employers on retail store colleague pay
· Colleague engagement - our overall colleague engagement score further improved in H1, maintaining our position in the top 5% of worldwide retailers. For the second year, 'reward' was the most improved engagement driver at Kingfisher, up five points YoY to an employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) of 32. 'Recognition' also increased by 5 points to an eNPS of 51, and 'colleague wellbeing' rose by a further three points to 46
· Gender representation - our aim is for 40% women in management roles and 35% in senior leadership roles by FY 25/26. We continue to make good progress through initiatives such as targeting gender-balanced shortlists for all senior appointments and assigning senior mentors to high potential women. We reached 29.1% women in our senior leadership team (H1 23/24: 27.8%) and 39.8% in management roles (H1 23/24: 39.3%) as of 31 July. Our Gender Pay Gap report, published in April 2024, shows a reduction in the median hourly pay gap from 1.1% to 0.8%
· Ethnic representation - we aim to further improve ethnic diversity in our workplace to bring diverse perspectives and broaden our talent pool. Initiatives include partnering with Diversity in Retail to send colleagues to their Ethnic Future Leaders programme, alongside targeted campaigns to improve ethnic diversity in our internal development programmes. In the
· Learning and development - we continue to invest heavily in learning and development, with an overall aim to support 20,000 colleagues to complete apprenticeships or qualifications by 2030. In FY 23/24, over 5,000 colleagues completed an apprenticeship, traineeship or external qualification
Planet: Helping to tackle climate change and becoming Forest Positive
Scope 1 and 2 carbon reduction targets
· We have reduced the carbon footprint from our own operations by 62.0% since FY 16/17, significantly ahead of our near-term 1.5°C-aligned science-based scope 1 and 2 targets
· We continue to make strong progress, including switching to more energy efficient vehicles across our delivery fleets and adopting energy efficiency measures across our property estate (including air source heat pumps and solar panels)
Scope 3 carbon reduction targets
· In FY 23/24, we reduced the intensity of our scope 3 emissions from the supply chain and customer use of products by 41.6% since FY 17/18, exceeding our 2025 target of 40%
· In H1 we announced new vendor decarbonisation targets to help us further reduce Scope 3 carbon emissions. These targets included: 1) creating a SBTi-aligned roadmap and 2050 'net-zero' decarbonisation target by 2028 for Kingfisher's 100 largest vendors by Scope 3 emissions, 2) creating a SBTi-aligned roadmap and 2050 'net-zero' decarbonisation target by 2030 for the next 450 largest vendors, and 3) setting a climate reduction plan by 2030 for all remaining vendors
· In addition, we have requested for our vendors to sign up to 'Manufacture 2030' (an emissions data collection platform) which helps vendors understand their emissions and build the necessary roadmaps to achieve our mutual targets
Forest Positive
· We remain on track to achieve our target of 100% of wood and paper used in our products to be responsibly sourced by FY 25/26 (FY 23/24: 97%)
· Through our partnership with the Rainforest Alliance, we continue to invest in forest projects in key tropical sourcing regions. These cover c.190,000 hectares of community-managed forests and support the livelihoods of over 40 communities in those areas
Customers: Helping to make greener, healthier homes affordable
· In H1, 50% of Group sales (H1 23/24: 46%) were from Sustainable Home Products (SHPs). These include OEBs as well as national and international branded products, and our target is to reach 60% by FY 25/26
· An important subset of our SHPs are our energy and water-saving products. During H1 we continued our focus on increasing engagement with customers in this area, through setting up energy efficiency product zones in more of our stores at Castorama France and Castorama Poland, with dedicated product experts to help customers with government green subsidies. Kingfisher also launched a campaign to promote water-saving tips while showcasing our water-saving product ranges
· We continue to roll out Green Star product markers to help customers more easily identify and purchase products that have a reduced impact on the environment. To date, our Green Star product marker has been applied to c.9k SKUs, with an aim to extend to 12k SKUs in H2
Communities: Striving for better homes for everyone in our communities
· We exceeded our FY 25/26 target of reaching 2m people whose housing needs are greatest, through our charitable partnerships and banner Foundations. We have reached a total of 3.2m people since FY 16/17 through our community projects
h) Human, agile and lean
To deliver the best possible service to our customers and ensure our colleagues are engaged, fulfilled and able to realise their full potential, we are building a culture based on trust, agility, inclusion and curiosity. We have adopted a 'done is better than perfect' mindset to move faster and with more agility, given the rapidly changing environment in which we do business. And we continue to focus on becoming leaner and more productive, as well as lowering our same-store inventories.
Human
· We are continuing to listen to our colleagues and measure their engagement across the Group, through formal and informal mechanisms. These include our 17 Affinity Networks and the Kingfisher Colleague Forum
· In our 2024 colleague engagement survey, we heard from 86% of colleagues who shared over 256k comments. Our Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) of 59 improved by two points YoY, maintaining our position in the top 5% of worldwide retailers
· We also continued to invest in leadership to build a stronger culture of inclusion. In H1, we ran workshops on inclusive recruitment, followed by the launch of our inclusive recruitment principles. This has supported a 15-point improvement in Kingfisher's leadership team inclusivity score
Agile
· We are enhancing our technology infrastructure through strategic partnerships with leading cloud providers, including Google, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. This multi-cloud approach allows us to implement the most appropriate and best-in-class solutions across our operations
· This approach is leading to enhanced speed, performance and resilience of our technology systems, as well as lower technology hosting costs
Lean - cost reduction and productivity
Multi-year structural cost reduction programme
· We continue to make strong progress in lowering our structural cost base across multiple areas of the business
· Examples include in supply and logistics where B&Q is benefiting from optimising its store-to-home fulfilment through use of its new order management system, reducing average order lead-times by 24 hours and saving c.
Productivity
· In addition to our structural cost reduction programmes, we are also focused on raising productivity by adapting and improving existing processes and workflows to deliver greater cost efficiency
· Examples in H1 included improving store productivity through identifying, tracking and reducing stock shrinkage with advanced store surveillance technology and a Microsoft-powered shrinkage dashboard. We are further improving labour productivity through the use of technology, enabling optimised picking routes to reduce the time required to prepare C&C and home delivery orders. We are realising improvements in supply & logistics with investment at Castorama Poland in new transit loading equipment which allows more stock to be loaded on to trucks, thereby reducing the amount of road journeys and lowering transport costs and our carbon footprint. Our shared service centre continues to focus on reducing overheads through greater use of automation - for example, automating the booking of invoices into our SAP systems from marketplace sales
Lean - inventories
· Structurally reducing our inventory levels and improving inventory turn is a major priority over the medium term. We are doing this by leveraging data to improve our planning and forecasting, optimising our replenishment systems (e.g., re-adjusting for shorter supplier lead-times), and developing stronger ranging principles
· Kingfisher's supply chain visibility tool (SVT) was developed in-house last year to provide our banners with real-time and end-to-end visibility of products, from receipt at origin ports all the way to arriving at stores. SVT enables our banners to reduce inventory levels and replenishment cycles by optimising the time between products being ordered and arriving at stores and distribution centres. The tool has now been rolled out to all banners. Over time, we believe this will result in higher product availability, lower inventory days, less working capital requirements and higher profitability
· SVT is also enabling our banners to provide forward visibility to our suppliers by sharing our data and allowing collaborative planning. We are currently sharing data with 45 OEB vendors representing approximately 20% of OEB sales. So far this has resulted in substantial reductions in average lead-times and minimum order quantities, and a reduction in inventory days for the in-scope OEB vendors
· In light of the ongoing crisis in the Red Sea, we continue to work closely with our carriers to ensure we secure the optimum amount of shipping capacity. We have also protected ongoing supply through pulling forward product orders where appropriate, and quickly reflecting more accurate shipping lead-times in replenishment systems. To date, product availability remains strong with no critical shortages
H1 performance summary
· Net inventory - total net inventory decreased by 4.3% (
· Same-store inventory - same-store net inventory* was 5.4% (
· Net inventory days - decreased by 2% YoY
· Product availability - total product availability is broadly flat YoY at 97%, while best seller availability is up slightly YoY to 98%
Key strategic priorities and medium-term financial and capital allocation priorities
Kingfisher operates in attractive markets, with positive longer-term structural trends underpinning the medium to longer-term growth outlook (including more working from home and the focus on energy efficiency), giving us confidence in further market growth potential. Building on our industry's attractive growth prospects, our key strategic priorities are as follows:
· Grow by building on our different banners:
- Screwfix
- Screwfix France: potential for >600 stores over time
- Castorama Poland: targeting up to 75 store openings over next five years
· Accelerate e-commerce through speed and choice:
- Ambition for e-commerce to reach 30% sales penetration, one third of which represents high margin marketplace gross sales
· Build a data-led customer experience:
- Ambition for retail media revenues to reach up to 3% of the Group's total e-commerce sales
· Develop our trade business:
- Aiming for >
Medium-term financial priorities
Kingfisher is a more agile and lean organisation that is strongly positioned to deliver profitable growth through self-help and operating leverage. Supported by the application of Kingfisher's key strategic priorities, the Group's medium-term financial and capital allocation priorities are as follows:
· Sales to grow ahead of our markets:
- LFL sales growth driven by e-commerce and marketplace sales growth, OEB sales growth and higher trade customer penetration
- Sales impact of c.+1.5% to +2.5% from annual net space growth over the medium term, primarily driven by Screwfix and Castorama Poland
· Adjusted pre-tax profit to grow faster than sales:
- Supported by scale benefits, higher margin initiatives, operating cost leverage, and multi-year operating cost reduction opportunities
· Strong cash generation to drive growth investment and shareholder returns:
- Free cash flow of c.
Capital allocation priorities
The Group's objectives in managing capital are to:
· Invest in the business where economic returns are attractive
· Maintain a solid investment grade credit rating
· Safeguard the Group's ability to continue as a going concern and retain financial flexibility
· Provide attractive returns to shareholders
We allocate capital, subject to strict returns criteria, to organic and 'bolt-on' inorganic growth opportunities that accelerate our strategy. Our target gross capital expenditure is c.3% of total sales per annum, focused on delivering against attractive organic growth opportunities.
To maintain a solid investment grade credit rating, our maximum net debt to EBITDA is 2.0 times over the medium term. To retain financial flexibility, we aim to maintain strong liquidity headroom (including cash, cash equivalents and committed debt facilities), which is currently set at a minimum of
Our target ordinary dividend cover* range is 2.25 to 2.75 times, based on adjusted basic earnings per share. We may move outside of this target range, temporarily, from time to time. Overall, our aim is to grow the ordinary dividend progressively over time. If surplus capital remains after having achieved all the above objectives, the Board will return surplus capital to shareholders via a share buyback programme or special dividends.
Interim ordinary dividend
The Board has declared an interim dividend per share of 3.80p (FY 23/24 interim dividend: 3.80p). The interim dividend will be paid on 15 November 2024 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 11 October 2024. A dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) is available to shareholders who would prefer to invest their dividends in the Company's shares. The shares will go ex-dividend on 10 October 2024. The last date for receipt of DRIP elections is 25 October 2024.
Share buyback programme
In line with our capital allocation policy described above, in September 2023 the Board determined that a further
programme. As of 31 July, we had repurchased c.
Section 5: Technical guidance for FY 24/25
New guidance, or significant updates to our previous guidance, are noted below in italics.
Please refer to Section 8 for further details regarding forward-looking statements.
Income statement
· Space
- Sales impact of c.+1.5% from net space growth, mainly from Screwfix
· Other International
- 'Other'(1) retail losses of c.£35m (FY 23/24:
· Koçtaş (
- Koçtaş retail contribution: c.
- Share of JV interest and tax: c.
· Depreciation and amortisation
- Anticipate c.£670m (FY 23/24:
· Central costs
- Anticipate c.£60m (FY 23/24:
· Net finance costs
- Anticipate c.
· Adjusted PBT
- Full year adjusted PBT of c.
· Tax rate
- Group adjusted effective tax rate* of c.27%(3) (FY 23/24: 27%)
Cash flow
· Capital expenditure
- Targeting gross capex of c.£350m (FY 23/24:
· Free cash flow
- Anticipate c.
· Share buybacks
- Completion of current
· Dividends
- c.
- Dividend policy target cover range of 2.25 to 2.75 times, based on adjusted basic earnings per share. We may move outside of this target range, temporarily, from time to time
(1) 'Other' consists of the consolidated results of Screwfix International, NeedHelp, and results from franchise and wholesale agreements, recorded within the 'Other International' division. On 18 July 2024, we completed a divestment of our c.80% equity interest in NeedHelp.
(2) Guidance assumes current exchange rates.
(3) Subject to the blend of profit within the Group's various jurisdictions.
Section 6: Financial review
A summary of the reported financial results for the six months ended 31 July 2024 is set out below. To be read in conjunction with the condensed financial statements included in part 2 of this announcement.
|
(1) Net increase in cash and cash equivalents and bank overdrafts.
(2) Net debt includes
Total sales decreased by 1.4% on a constant currency basis, to
LFL sales of -2.4% excludes a +1.0% sales impact from a net increase in space, driven by Screwfix store openings in the
Gross margin % increased by 40 basis points on a constant currency and reported basis, reflecting effective management of product costs, retail prices and supplier negotiations, and lower clearance costs and stock provisions. Group gross profit was broadly flat, down by 0.2% in constant currency.
In constant currency, retail profit decreased by 2.7% to
Adjusted pre-tax profit decreased by 0.5% to
Statutory pre-tax profit increased by 2.3% to
A reconciliation from the adjusted basis to the statutory basis for pre-tax profit is set out below:
|
|
2024/25 £m |
2023/24 £m |
Increase/ (decrease) |
|
Retail profit (constant currency) |
420 |
432 |
(2.7)% |
|
Impact of exchange rates |
- |
1 |
n/a |
|
Retail profit (reported) |
420 |
433 |
(3.0)% |
|
Central costs |
(29) |
(36) |
(20.5)% |
|
Share of interest and tax of joint ventures & associates |
(7) |
(11) |
n/a |
|
Net finance costs |
(50) |
(50) |
(1.4)% |
|
Adjusted pre-tax profit |
334 |
336 |
(0.5)% |
|
Adjusting items before tax |
(10) |
(19) |
n/a |
|
Statutory pre-tax profit |
324 |
317 |
+2.3% |
Net finance costs of
Adjusting items after tax were a total charge of
|
|
2024/25 £m Gain/(charge) |
2023/24 £m Gain/(charge) |
|
Net store asset impairment charges |
(6) |
(14) |
|
Operating model restructuring |
(3) |
(7) |
|
|
2 |
- |
|
Loss on disposal of NeedHelp |
(3) |
- |
|
Profit on disposal of Crealfi associate investment |
- |
2 |
|
Adjusting items before tax |
(10) |
(19) |
|
Prior year and other adjusting tax items |
4 |
7 |
|
Adjusting items after tax |
(6) |
(12) |
In consideration of our H1 24/25 performance in
During the prior year, the Group commenced formal consultations with employee representatives regarding the Group's technology operating model restructuring programme. Charges of
During the period, we updated the methodology under which the liability relating to guaranteed minimum pension equalisation is calculated, to reflect the methodology chosen by the Trustees, resulting in a
During the period, the Group completed the disposal of its c.80% interest in NeedHelp for nil proceeds, resulting in a loss on disposal of
Prior year and other adjusting tax items relate principally to deferred tax credits recorded in respect of the impairment and restructuring expenses noted above, movements in prior year provisions to reflect a reassessment of expected outcomes, and refunds from tax authorities.
Taxation
The Group's adjusted effective tax rate (ETR) is sensitive to the blend of tax rates and profits in the Group's various jurisdictions. It is higher than the
The statutory effective tax rate includes the impact of adjusting items (including prior year tax items). The impact of these result in a statutory effective tax rate of 27%.
|
|
Pre-tax profit £m |
Tax £m |
2024/25 % |
Pre-tax profit £m |
Tax £m |
2023/24 % |
|
Adjusted effective tax rate |
334 |
(91) |
27% |
336 |
(87) |
26% |
|
Adjusting items |
(10) |
4 |
|
(19) |
7 |
|
|
Statutory effective tax rate |
324 |
(87) |
27% |
317 |
(80) |
25% |
In FY 21/22, Kingfisher paid
The statutory tax rates applicable to this financial year and the expected statutory tax rates for next year in our main jurisdictions are as follows:
|
|
Statutory tax rate 2025/26 |
Statutory tax rate 2024/25 |
|
|
25% |
25% |
|
|
26% |
26% |
|
|
19% |
19% |
Adjusted basic earnings per share increased by 1.2% to 13.2p (H1 23/24: 13.0p), which excludes the impact of adjusting items. Basic earnings per share increased by 3.9% to 12.8p (H1 23/24: 12.4p).
|
|
Earnings(1) £m |
2024/25 EPS pence |
Earnings(1) £m |
2023/24 EPS pence |
|
Adjusted basic earnings per share |
243 |
13.2 |
249 |
13.0 |
|
Adjusting items before tax |
(10) |
(0.5) |
(19) |
(1.0) |
|
Prior year and other adjusting tax items |
4 |
0.1 |
7 |
0.4 |
|
Basic earnings per share |
237 |
12.8 |
237 |
12.4 |
(1) Earnings figures presented reconcile adjusted post-tax profits to statutory post-tax profits.
Dividends
The Board has declared an interim dividend per share of 3.80p (FY 23/24 interim dividend: 3.80p). The interim dividend will be paid on 15 November 2024 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 11 October 2024. A dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) is available to shareholders who would prefer to invest their dividends in the Company's shares. The shares will go ex-dividend on 10 October 2024. The last date for receipt of DRIP elections is 25 October 2024. For further details on our dividend policy please refer to 'Key strategic priorities and medium-term financial and capital allocation priorities' within Section 4.
Management of balance sheet and liquidity risk and financing
Management of cash and debt facilities
Kingfisher regularly reviews the level of cash and debt facilities required to fund its activities. This involves preparing a prudent cash flow forecast for the medium term, determining the level of debt facilities required to fund the business, planning for repayment or refinancing of debt, and identifying an appropriate amount of headroom to provide a reserve against unexpected outflows and/or impacts to cash inflows. To retain financial flexibility, we aim to maintain strong liquidity headroom (including cash and cash equivalents, and committed debt facilities), which is currently set at a minimum of
Net debt to EBITDA
As of 31 July 2024, the Group had
The ratio of the Group's net debt to EBITDA (on a last twelve months' basis) was 1.5 times as of 31 July 2024 (1.6 times as of 31 January 2024). At this level, the Group has financial flexibility while retaining an efficient cost of capital. The Group's maximum net debt to EBITDA is 2.0 times over the medium term. Please refer to 'Key strategic priorities and medium-term financial and capital allocation priorities' in Section 4 for further details.
Net debt to EBITDA is set out below:
|
|
2024/25 Moving annual total £m |
2023/24 Year-end £m |
|
Retail profit |
736 |
749 |
|
Central costs |
(53) |
(60) |
|
Depreciation and amortisation |
656 |
641 |
|
EBITDA |
1,339 |
1,330 |
|
Net debt |
1,952 |
2,116 |
|
Net debt to EBITDA |
1.5 |
1.6 |
Credit ratings
Kingfisher holds a BBB credit rating with Fitch and a BBB rating with Standard and Poor's. The Outlook is Stable across both agencies.
Revolving credit facility
In May 2024, the Group entered into a new
Term loans
The Group has two existing fixed term loans with
Covenants
The terms of the committed RCF and both term loans require that the ratio of Group operating profit (excluding adjusting items) to net interest payable (excluding interest on IFRS 16 lease liabilities) must be no less than 3:1 for the preceding 12 months as at the half and full year-ends. As of 31 July 2024, Kingfisher was compliant with this requirement.
Total liquidity
As of 31 July 2024, the Group had access to over
Free cash flow
A reconciliation of free cash flow is set out below:
|
|
2024/25 £m |
2023/24 £m |
|
Operating profit |
374 |
367 |
|
Adjusting items |
10 |
19 |
|
Operating profit (before adjusting items) |
384 |
386 |
|
Other non-cash items(1) |
363 |
341 |
|
Change in working capital |
128 |
84 |
|
Pensions and provisions |
(1) |
- |
|
Net rent paid |
(260) |
(238) |
|
Operating cash flow |
614 |
573 |
|
Net interest received |
8 |
5 |
|
Tax paid |
(48) |
(68) |
|
Gross capital expenditure |
(153) |
(164) |
|
Free cash flow |
421 |
346 |
|
Ordinary dividends paid |
(159) |
(165) |
|
Share buybacks |
(92) |
(99) |
|
Share purchase for employee incentive schemes |
(26) |
(24) |
|
Disposal of Crealfi S.A. and acquisition of assets of Connect Distribution Services Limited |
- |
6 |
|
Disposal of NeedHelp |
(3) |
- |
|
Disposal of assets and other(2) |
(15) |
(13) |
|
Net cash flow* |
126 |
51 |
|
Opening net debt |
(2,116) |
(2,274) |
|
Movements in lease liabilities |
37 |
40 |
|
Other movement including foreign exchange |
1 |
2 |
|
Closing net debt |
(1,952) |
(2,181) |
(1) Includes depreciation and amortisation, share-based compensation charge and pension operating cost.
(2) Includes adjusting cash flow items (principally comprising restructuring costs), partially offset by proceeds from the issue of new shares.
Operating profit (before adjusting items) was
Gross capital expenditure was
Overall, free cash flow for H1 was
A reconciliation of free cash flow and net cash flow to the statutory net movement in cash and cash equivalents and bank overdrafts is set out below:
|
|
2024/25 £m |
2023/24 £m |
|
Free cash flow |
421 |
346 |
|
Ordinary dividends paid |
(159) |
(165) |
|
Share buybacks |
(92) |
(99) |
|
Share purchase for employee incentive schemes |
(26) |
(24) |
|
Disposal of Crealfi S.A. and acquisition of assets of Connect Distribution Services Limited |
- |
6 |
|
Disposal of NeedHelp |
(3) |
- |
|
Disposal of assets and other(1) |
(15) |
(13) |
|
Net cash flow |
126 |
51 |
|
Arrangement fees paid |
(2) |
- |
|
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents |
124 |
51 |
(1) Includes adjusting cash flow items (principally comprising restructuring costs), partially offset by proceeds from the issue of new shares.
Pensions
As of 31 July 2024, the Group had a net surplus of
Risks
The Group's principal risks and uncertainties have been reviewed as part of our half year procedures. There are no additions or removals since the FY 23/24 year-end.
The current geopolitical and macroeconomic climate remains uncertain. While inflation has eased in most of our markets, its recent effects have impacted consumer spending and interest rates remain relatively high. Elections have been held in several of the countries in which we operate, however it is too soon to see what impact these will have on consumer confidence. There are also further upcoming elections, notably in the US, along with increasing regulations on the horizon, particularly in the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) space. Recent concerns about the health of the US economy have also had a knock-on effect on European and other global stock markets. Our Group Corporate Affairs team closely monitors global events for any impacts they could pose, and we continue to effectively manage our costs and pursue our OEB strategy to deliver value for our customers.
· Our people: Our colleagues are critical to the successful delivery of our 'Powered by Kingfisher' strategy and priorities. Failure to attract, retain and develop colleagues with appropriate skills and capabilities could impact our ability to deliver our strategic priorities and business objectives at the pace required. We have set ambitious inclusion and diversity targets to promote more innovation and creativity and ensure Kingfisher is an inclusive place to work. Failure to attract and retain colleagues to meet these targets could have a negative impact on delivering our business objectives and cause reputational damage.
· Supply chain resilience: A resilient supply chain is key to our business and the achievement of our strategic objectives. We are dependent on complex global supply chains and fulfilment solutions to deliver our products to our customers. We are also reliant on the ability of our suppliers to respond quickly to changes in demand and to be financially resilient, particularly to fluctuations in energy prices. Major disruption to our supply chain, along with a failure to respond quickly and effectively, could result in reduced levels of product availability, with an adverse financial and reputational impact.
· Competitor behaviour: Our competitors include both traditional store-based and pure-play online retailers. In recent years, we have seen an increase in online penetration in the home improvement market, including through e-commerce marketplaces. Competitors are also developing their offers, including more products, services and fulfilment options. Targeted actions or disruptive behaviour by competitors could negatively impact our market shares, the value of our assets and our financial results.
· Geopolitical instability creating macroeconomic volatility: Kingfisher operates in eight countries across
· Cyber and data security: Cyberattacks and security incidents continue to present a risk for organisations. We proactively manage our risk profile and will continue to do so as we deliver on our strategy and as our use of technology evolves. Generative AI tools have become more widely accessible recently. Whilst these present great opportunities for innovation and growth, they could also be used maliciously by bad actors to create more compelling phishing attacks. If public Generative AI services are used, there is a risk that commercially sensitive information may be inadvertently made public, increasing the risk of data loss. Failure to protect data, detect breaches and respond accordingly would negatively impact our operations, profitability and reputation.
· Legal and regulatory: The Group's operations are subject to a broad range of regulatory requirements in the markets in which we operate, and new regulation continues to emerge. A major corporate issue or crisis, a significant fraud or material non-compliance with legislative or regulatory requirements would impact our brands and reputation, could expose us to significant fines or penalties and would require significant management attention.
· Reputation and trust: Our customers, colleagues, suppliers, investors and the communities we source from and operate in expect us to conduct our business in a way that is responsible and in everyone's long-term interest. One of the many ways we strive to ensure this is through our publicly communicated Responsible Business strategy and targets, covering topics such as how we help our customers' homes become more sustainable, responsible sourcing, how we bring greater diversity into the business and support our local communities. We also expect everyone working for us or with us to carry out our business professionally, fairly and with complete integrity.
· Climate change: Climate change will have negative consequences on society and businesses without concerted mitigation efforts. The climate scenario analysis in our TCFD section (see the 2023/24 Annual Report and Accounts) identified several climate-related financial and operational risks, which are potentially significant if climate solutions are not effective, even if their impact over our outlook period is limited. The analysis shows the top three risks being consumer preference changes, liability costs from third-parties and the cost of carbon increasing. In response to these challenges, we have a number of mitigation actions including setting ambitious climate change commitments. Failure to deliver on our commitments could negatively impact our operations, profitability over time, as well as causing reputational damage.
· Responding to changing customer preferences: The pace of change remains high, with greater use of e-commerce solutions for C&C and home delivery and increasing customer demand for greater choice. To make our products available to customers where and when they want it, we need innovative digital channels supported by an agile and reliable infrastructure, a robust logistics capability and an optimised property portfolio, located where consumers want to shop, with in-store services. We are also seeing increased demand for more sustainable products, with greater attention to their energy and water saving features and their overall environmental impact. Failure to identify and respond to new trends effectively and with pace could affect our ability to stimulate spend and adversely impact the value of our assets and our financial results.
Further details of the Group risks and risk management process can be found on pages 59 to 64 of the 2023/24 Annual Report and Accounts.
Section 7: Glossary
Alternative Performance Measures (APMs)
In the reporting of financial information, the Directors have adopted various Alternative Performance Measures (APMs), also known as non-GAAP measures, of historical or future financial performance, position or cash flows other than those defined or specified under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These measures are not defined by IFRS and therefore may not be directly comparable with other companies' APMs, including those used by other retailers. APMs should be considered in addition to, and are not intended to be a substitute for, or superior to, IFRS measurements.
|
APM |
Closest equivalent IFRS measure |
Reconciling items to IFRS measure |
Definition and purpose |
|
Adjusted basic earnings per share (EPS) |
Basic earnings per share |
A reconciliation of adjusted basic earnings per share is included in the Financial Review (Section 6) and note 8 of the condensed financial statements |
Adjusted basic earnings per share represents profit after tax attributable to the owners of the parent, before the impact of adjusting items (see definition below), divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the period. The exclusion of adjusting items helps provide an indication of the Group's ongoing business performance. |
|
Adjusted effective tax rate |
Effective tax rate |
A reconciliation to the statutory effective tax rate is set out in the Financial Review (Section 6) |
The adjusted effective tax rate is calculated as continuing income tax expense excluding tax adjustments in respect of prior years (including the impact of changes in tax rates on deferred tax), significant one-off tax settlements and provision charges/releases and the tax effects of adjusting items, divided by continuing profit before taxation excluding adjusting items. Prior year tax items represent income statement tax relating to underlying items originally arising in prior years, including the impact of changes in tax rates on deferred tax. The exclusion of items relating to prior years, and those not in the ordinary course of business, helps provide an indication of the Group's ongoing rate of tax. |
|
Adjusted pre-tax profit (PBT) |
Profit before taxation |
A reconciliation of adjusted PBT is set out in the Financial Review (Section 6) |
Adjusted PBT is used to report the performance of the business at a Group level. This is stated before adjusting items. The exclusion of adjusting items helps provide an indication of the Group's ongoing business performance. |
|
Adjusted pre-tax profit (PBT) margin % |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
Adjusted PBT is used to report the performance of the business at a Group level and is separately defined. Adjusted PBT margin % represents adjusted PBT as a percentage of sales. It is a measure of overall business profitability. |
|
Adjusted post-tax profit |
Profit after tax |
A reconciliation of adjusted post-tax profit is set out in the Financial Review (Section 6) and note 8 of the condensed financial statements |
Adjusted post-tax profit is used to report the after-tax performance of the business at a Group level. This is stated before adjusting items. The exclusion of adjusting items helps provide an indication of the Group's ongoing after-tax business performance. |
|
Adjusting items |
No direct equivalent |
Not applicable |
Adjusting items, which are presented separately within their relevant income statement category, include items which by virtue of their size and/or nature, do not reflect the Group's ongoing trading performance. Adjusting items may include, but are not limited to: non-trading items included in operating profit such as profits and losses on the disposal, closure, exit or impairment of subsidiaries, joint ventures, associates and investments which do not form part of the Group's ongoing trading activities; the costs of significant restructuring and incremental acquisition integration costs; profits and losses on the exit of properties, impairments of goodwill and significant impairments (or impairment reversals) of other non-current assets; prior year tax items (including the impact of changes in tax rates on deferred tax), significant one-off tax settlements and provision charges/releases and the tax effects of other adjusting items; financing fair value remeasurements i.e., changes in the fair value of financing derivatives, excluding interest accruals, offset by fair value adjustments to the carrying amount of borrowings and other hedged items under fair value (or non-designated) hedge relationships. Financing derivatives are those that relate to hedged items of a financing nature. |
|
'Big-ticket' category sales± |
No direct equivalent |
Not applicable |
'Big-ticket' category sales comprise the sales from our kitchen, bathroom & storage products. It is used as a measure of performance of our relatively higher-value products. |
|
Central costs |
No direct equivalent |
Not applicable |
Central costs principally comprise the costs of the Group's head office before adjusting items. This helps provide an indication of the Group's ongoing head office costs. |
|
Constant currency |
No direct equivalent |
Not applicable |
Constant currency changes in total sales, LFL sales, gross profit, gross margin %, retail profit, retail profit margin % and operating costs reflect the year-on-year movements after translating the prior year comparatives at the current year's average exchange rates. These are presented to eliminate the effects of exchange rate fluctuations on the reported results. |
|
Core category sales± |
No direct equivalent |
Not applicable |
Core sales include the sales from non-seasonal products across all our categories, other than 'big ticket' sales (i.e., kitchen, bathroom & storage). It is used as a measure of our non-seasonal related performance, which is the majority of Group sales. |
|
Dividend cover |
No direct equivalent |
Not applicable |
Dividend cover represents the ratio of earnings to dividends. It is calculated as adjusted basic earnings per share divided by the total (full year) dividend per share. It is used as an indication of how sustainable dividend payments are. |
|
E-commerce sales penetration % |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
E-commerce sales penetration % represent total e-commerce sales as a percentage of sales. For the purpose of this calculation only, sales are adjusted to replace marketplace net sales with marketplace gross sales. It is used to track the success of our e-commerce strategy. |
|
First-party |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
First-party e-commerce sales are total first-party sales (excluding VAT) derived from online transactions, including click & collect (C&C). This includes sales transacted on any device, however not sales through a call centre. Sales (and related commissions/fees) from products supplied by third-party e-commerce marketplace vendors are excluded. It is used to measure the performance of our first-party e-commerce business across the Group. |
|
Total |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
Total e-commerce sales are first-party e-commerce sales plus marketplace gross sales. References to digital or e-commerce sales growth relates to growth in constant currency. It is used to measure the performance of all e-commerce business (first-party and third-party) across the Group. |
|
EBITDA |
Profit before taxation |
A reconciliation of EBITDA is set out in the Financial Review (Section 6) |
EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) is calculated as retail profit less central costs and before depreciation and amortisation. This measure is widely used in calculating the ratio of net debt to EBITDA, and is used to reflect the Group's leverage. |
|
Free cash flow |
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents and bank overdrafts |
A reconciliation of free cash flow is set out in the Financial Review (Section 6) |
Free cash flow represents the cash generated from operations (excluding adjusting items) less the amount spent on interest, tax and capital expenditure during the year (excluding asset disposals). This provides a measure of how much cash the business generates that can be used for expansion, capital returns and other purposes. |
|
Gross margin % |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
Gross profit represents sales from the supply of home improvement products and services (excluding VAT), less the associated cost of those sales. Gross margin % represents gross profit as a percentage of sales. It is a measure of operating performance. |
|
LFL |
Sales |
Refer to definition |
LFL (like-for-like) sales growth represents the constant currency, year-on-year sales growth for stores that have been open for more than one year. It is a measure to reflect the Group's performance on a comparable basis. |
|
Marketplace gross merchandise value (GMV) |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
Marketplace GMV is the total transaction value (including VAT) from the sale of products supplied by third-party e-commerce marketplace vendors. It is used to measure the performance of our e-commerce marketplace, and is the basis on which our commissions from third-party vendors are determined. |
|
Marketplace gross sales |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
Marketplace gross sales is the transaction value (excluding VAT) from the sale of products supplied by third-party e-commerce marketplace vendors. Returned and cancelled orders are excluded. It is used to measure the performance of our e-commerce marketplace. |
|
Marketplace net sales |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
Marketplace net sales are commissions (excluding VAT) earned on e-commerce marketplace transactions, together with other service fees. This is included within sales. Commissions are determined based on GMV. It is used to measure the performance of our e-commerce marketplace. |
|
Marketplace participation % |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
Marketplace participation % represents marketplace gross sales as a percentage of total e-commerce sales. It is used to track the success of our marketplace strategy and performance. |
|
Net debt |
No direct equivalent |
A reconciliation of this measure is provided in note 16 of the condensed financial statements |
Net debt comprises lease liabilities, borrowings and financing derivatives (excluding accrued interest), less cash and cash equivalents and short-term deposits, including such balances classified as held for sale. |
|
Net cash flow |
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents and bank overdrafts |
A reconciliation of net cash flow is set out in the Financial Review (Section 6) and in note 16 of the condensed financial statements |
Net cash flow is a measure to reflect the total movement in the net debt balance during the year excluding the movement in lease liabilities, exchange differences and other non-cash movements. |
|
Operating costs |
No direct equivalent |
Not applicable |
Operating costs represent gross profit less retail profit. This is the Group's operating cost measure used to report the performance of our retail businesses. |
|
Own exclusive brands (OEB) sales |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
OEB refers to our portfolio of own exclusive brands across seven core categories - surfaces & décor, tools & hardware, bathroom & storage, kitchen, EPHC (electricals, plumbing, heating & cooling), building & joinery, and outdoor.
OEB sales are sales of own exclusive brand products. It is used to measure the performance of OEB across the Group. |
|
Retail profit |
Profit before taxation |
A reconciliation of Group retail profit to profit before taxation is set out in the Financial Review (Section 6) and note 4 of the condensed financial statements. There is no statutory equivalent to retail profit at a retail banner level |
Retail profit is stated before central costs, adjusting items, the Group's share of interest and tax of JVs and associates, and net finance costs. This is the Group's operating profit measure used to report the performance of our retail businesses. |
|
Retail profit margin % |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
Retail profit is the Group's operating profit measure used to report the performance of our retail businesses and is separately defined above. Retail profit margin % represents retail profit as a percentage of sales. It is a measure of operating performance. |
|
ROCE |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
ROCE (return on capital employed) is the post-tax retail profit less central costs, excluding adjusting items, divided by capital employed excluding historic goodwill, net debt and adjusting restructuring provision. The measure provides an indication of the ongoing returns from the capital invested in the business. Capital employed is calculated as a two-point average. The calculation excludes disposed businesses. |
|
Same-store net inventory |
Inventory |
Refer to definition |
Same-store net inventory movement represents the constant currency, year-on-year change in net inventory before the impact of store openings and closures. It is a measure to reflect the Group's inventory management on a comparable basis. |
|
Seasonal category sales |
No direct equivalent |
Refer to definition |
Seasonal category sales include the sales from certain products within our outdoor, electricals, plumbing, heating & cooling (EPHC) and surfaces & décor categories. It is used as a measure of the performance of our sales that are subject to the season we are in, or prevailing weather conditions. |
± Indicates the inclusion of new APMs during H1 24/25. The new APMs in the table above have been introduced to track the individual performance of our core and 'big-ticket' category sales.
Other Definitions
'Do It Yourself' (DIY) sales include products that facilitate self-undertaken home improvement projects and tasks, including paint, lighting, tools and hardware, and garden maintenance.
'Do It For Me' (DIFM) sales include products and services used in home improvement projects and tasks that predominantly require a tradesperson to undertake, including kitchens, bathrooms, tiling, wardrobes, windows and doors, certain electrical and plumbing activities, and installation services.
GNFR (Goods Not For Resale) covers the procurement of all goods and services a retailer consumes (including ocean freight, energy, media buying, cleaning, and security).
Iberia consists of Brico Dépôt
Other International consists of
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) is defined as the number of individual variants of products sold or remaining in stock. It is a distinct type of item for sale, such as a product and all attributes associated with the item type that distinguish it from others. These attributes could include, but are not limited to, manufacturer, description, material, size, colour, packaging and warranty terms.
Section 8: Forward-looking statements
You are not to construe the content of this announcement as investment, legal or tax advice and you should make your own evaluation of the Company and the market. If you are in any doubt about the contents of this announcement or the action you should take, you should consult a person authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended) (or if you are a person outside the
This announcement has been prepared in relation to the financial results for the six months ended 31 July 2024. The financial information referenced in this announcement is not audited and does not contain sufficient detail to allow a full understanding of the results of the Group. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as either an offer or invitation to sell or any offering of securities or any invitation or inducement to any person to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire securities in any company within the Group or an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity under section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended) (or, otherwise under any other law, regulation or exchange rules in any other applicable jurisdiction).
Certain information contained in this announcement may constitute "forward-looking statements" (including within the meaning of the safe harbour provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995), which can be identified by the use of terms such as "may", "will", "would", "could", "should", "expect", "anticipate", "project", "estimate", "intend", "continue", "target", "plan", "goal", "aim", forecast, or "believe" (or the negatives thereof) or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and our current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts and include statements which look forward in time or statements regarding the Company's intentions, beliefs or current expectations and those of our Officers, Directors and employees concerning, amongst other things, the Company's results of operations, financial condition, changes in global or regional trade conditions (including a downturn in the retail or financial services industries), competitive influences, changes in tax rates, exchange rates or interest rates, changes to customer preferences, the state of the housing and home improvement markets, share repurchases and dividends, capital expenditure and capital allocation, liquidity, prospects, growth and strategies, litigation or other proceedings to which we are subject, acts of war or terrorism worldwide, work stoppages, slowdowns or strikes, public health crises, outbreaks of contagious disease, environmental disruption or political volatility. By their nature, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to future events, risks and uncertainties - many of which are beyond our control, dependent on actions of third-parties, or currently unknown to us - as well as potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual events or results or actual performance of the Group to differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements. For further information regarding risks to Kingfisher's business, please consult the risk management section of the Company's Annual Report (as published). No representation, warranty or other assurance is made as to the achievement or reasonableness of, and no reliance should be placed on, such forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as of the date of this announcement and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any new information, change in circumstances, or change in the Company's expectations to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this announcement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
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