ANALYST VIEWS: HOW WELL IS KINGFISHER PERFORMING?
PHILIP DORGAN | PANMURE GORDON
Good underlying progress, but we need to shave our numbers for 2013 by £30m to £865m. We continue to believe that Kingfisher has a significant growth opportunity…At last, Kingfisher is beginning to extract benefits from having a group structure and is set to dramatically increase both common and direct sourcing.
DAVID JEARY | INVESTEC
A solid performance with group like for like sales up 0.9 per cent sees Kingfisher confirm a 2012 profit before tax increase of around 20 per cent. Of greater interest arguably is a management reshuffle, the net effects of which see the group looking for a new CFO and the departure of Peter Hogsted, CEO of Kingfisher International.
MATTHEW MCEACHRAN | SINGER CAPITAL MARKETS
Despite the tough backdrop, certain divisional outperformance means they deliver market expectations, so we don’t expect any forecast changes today. Today’s IMS highlights the strong momentum in this business, albeit against a weak weather [comparison for last year], and so should be well received.