B&Q made a retail profit of £29m during the third quarter, down 23% on a year ago, according to parent company Kingfisher plc.
The DIY shed’s sales declined 7.8% to £887m during the period due to the weakening economic environment and poor weather during August.
Sales of core DIY and makeover products peformed relatively well (down 3%) but sales of weather-impacted goods dipped by around 17%.
Kingfisher also announced it would focus its UK business on co-ordinated development of B&Q and Screwfix, while closing the fledgling Trade depot chain of nine branches. Screwfix’s sales grew 8.1% to £126m.
“Consumer confidence has clearly been shaken over the last few months by international economic events and this has impacted demand in all our markets,” said Ian Cheshire, Kingfisher group chief executive.
“However, we enter this period of slowdown in a strong position with a robust balance sheet, international market leadership, retail brands with a strong value positioning and significant buying scale.”
Kingfisher’s total UK sales were £1bn, a fall of 6.1%.
