B&Q owner Kingfisher blames rain for fall in sales
B&Q owner Kingfisher has blamed wet weather in April for a fall in quarterly sales.
Like-for-like sales were down 12% at B&Q in the UK and Republic of Ireland in the quarter to 28 April. Kingfisher said April's rain worsened already tough trading conditions.
'We anticipated the first quarter would be challenging, compared with last year's strong growth which was boosted by favourable spring weather and public holidays. But an extremely wet April compounded the difficulty, adversely impacting sales of outdoor and seasonal categories,' says Ian Cheshire, Kingfisher chief executive.