B&Q owner eyes warm weather boost as sales fall Retail B&Q’s FTSE 100 owner will be hoping for a heatwave boost after it blamed poor weather for falling sales at the start of the year. Kingfisher, which also owns Screwfix and home improvement retailers in France and Poland, saw total like-for-like sales dip by 0.9 per cent to £3.3bn in the first quarter of the [...]
Boss of B&Q owner quits after poaching by Dutch supermarket Retail Thierry Garnier, the chief executive of B&Q owner Kingfisher, has said he will step down after being poached by a Dutch-Belgian retail giant. The French businessman has helmed the FTSE 100 firm, which also owns Screwfix and home improvement brands across Europe, for nearly seven years. Garnier will become president and chief executive of Ahold [...]
OK computer: will AI be telling you how to shop? Retail Hyped as a “seamless” user experience and an opportunity for retailers to access “hundreds of millions” of consumers via ChatGPT, OpenAI walked back from its Instant Checkout shopping function at the end of March, just months before unveiling it. The tool would have allowed users to complete purchases entirely within ChatGPT, but the Silicon Valley [...]
Kingfisher: B&Q owner sales dragged down by weakness in overseas brands March 24, 2026 B&Q owner Kingfisher saw the success of its UK brands dragged down by struggles overseas, as sales in France and Poland took a dip. The FTSE 100 firm suffered falling sales in its French Castorama (-2.2 per cent) and Brico Depot (-2.3 per cent) brands and in Poland (-1.1 per cent), while sales grew by [...]
Autumn Budget: B&Q boss hands Reeves tool kit for growth November 12, 2025 Ahead of the Autumn Budget, City Reporter Samuel Norman sits down with top industry names for a Budget Briefing. This week, the boss of retail stalwart B&Q warns truly fixing the foundations starts with building confidence. After Labour’s monumental 2024 general election sweep, Chancellor Rachel Reeves seized her economic tool kit, telling Britons she was “fixing [...]
Shares in B&Q owner Kingfisher unexpectedly spike after sales boost September 23, 2025 Kingfisher, the parent company of B&Q and Screwfix, saw its share price rise more than 17 per cent on Tuesday morning after posting a better-than-expected sales update. The FTSE 100 firm told markets that sales improved 0.9 per cent in the six months ended 31 July, 2025, to £6.8bn, driven by a 4.4 per cent [...]
Retailers’ woes stretch into second day after bearish Deutsche note August 27, 2025 A sell-off affecting some of the UK’s largest retailers has extended into a second day, after an analyst warned the spectre of higher taxes in the Autumn Budget, a softening labour market and sticky inflation will dent consumers’ spending habits. Shares in AB Foods, Wickes and B&Q-owner Kingfisher all shed between one and 1.5 per [...]
DIY demand boosts sales at B&Q and Screwfix owner May 28, 2025 Strong UK sales have driven a positive start to the year for B&Q owner Kingfisher, despite a slowdown in sales in France and Poland. The home improvement company, which operates 1,900 stores across seven European countries, said total sales rose 1.8 per cent to £3.31bn in the three months ended April 30. Shares dropped two [...]
WHSmith and Inchcape lead fall in retail stocks April 4, 2025 UK retail stocks have dropped in value this morning, led by a sell-off of WHSmith, Inchcape and AO World. Earlier today, tax body RSM said that price rises at UK retailers as a result of the tariffs were “inevitable”. “The tariffs announced by President Trump this week would in themselves be a blow to the [...]
B&Q: Kingfisher CEO’s pay slashed by £4m as profit cut April 3, 2025 The boss of Kingfisher, the group behind the likes of B&Q and Screwfix, saw his pay slashed by almost £4m as its sales and profit took a significant hit during its latest financial year. Thierry Garnier took home almost £2.3m for the 12 months 31 January, 2025, down from the nearly £6m he received in [...]