The owner of B&Q and Screwfix said sales have edged higher in the 海角视频 and Ireland in recent months, despite uncertainty around the government鈥檚 Budget statement holding back stronger consumer spending.
Kingfisher reported total group sales of 拢3.2bn between August and October, 1.1% lower than the same period a year ago, when compared like-for-like. In the 海角视频 and Ireland, sales edged up 0.4% to 拢1.6bn.
The DIY giant's boss, Thierry Garnier, said a stronger performance in August and September was 鈥渙ffset by the impact of increased consumer uncertainty in the 海角视频 and France in October, related to government budgets in both countries鈥.
The firm said results at B&Q were in line with the market while "strong" gains were achieved at Somerset-headquartered Screwfix.
Mr Garnier pointed to 鈥渆arlier signs of improvement鈥 for so-called big ticket purchases, which have been weaker this year.
鈥淥verall trading in the third quarter was resilient," he said. "We continued to see improved volume trends in our core categories, supported by repairs, maintenance and existing home renovation."
He added: 鈥淟ooking towards next year, recent political and macroeconomic developments have layered incremental uncertainty onto the near-term outlook in our markets. And so we continue to focus our energy on what we can control 鈥 delivering further market share gains through our key strategic priorities, and managing our retail prices, costs and cash effectively.
"As a group, we are strongly positioned to benefit from the inflection to come within home improvement."
