Kingfisher to open up to 40 Screwfix stores
Home improvement retail group Kingfisher has set out plans to open up to 40 Screwfix stores in the UK in its 2024-25 financial year, with a medium-term target to exceed 1,000 locations.
The company, which also owns B&Q and Castorama, recorded a 3.1% decline in like-for-like sales in the year ending January 2024. However, this excluded 1.3% sales growth from a net increase in space, driven by Screwfix store openings in the UK and Ireland and Castorama in Poland. Last year, the group also bought online retailer Connect Distribution Services, since renamed to Screwfix Spares.
Operating profit at the retail group tumbled by 20% to £580m during the period, while pretax profit was down by 22.3% at £475m.
Home improvement retail group Kingfisher has set out plans to open up to 40 Screwfix stores in the UK in its 2024-25 financial year, with a medium-term target to exceed 1,000 locations.
The company, which also owns B&Q and Castorama, recorded a 3.1% decline in like-for-like sales in the year ending January 2024. However, this excluded 1.3% sales growth from a net increase in space, driven by Screwfix store openings in the UK and Ireland and Castorama in Poland. Last year, the group also bought online retailer Connect Distribution Services, since renamed to Screwfix Spares.
Operating profit at the retail group tumbled by 20% to £580m during the period, while pretax profit was down by 22.3% at £475m.
During the year, Kingfisher opened 76 stores, including 49 stores in the UK, five in Ireland, 17 in France including 15 Screwfix stores, and five in Poland. It closed one Screwfix store and eight grocery concession stores in the UK, and one Brico Dépôt store in Romania.
Excluding Screwfix, the group completed 17 lease renewals and renegotiations during the period, resulting in an average net rent reduction of 19% alongside “improved” lease terms. Its lease liabilities have shrunk slightly to under £2.4bn, compared with over £2.4bn in the previous year.
Kingfisher said it has completed nine rightsizings over the past three years, including seven at B&Q and two at Castorama France, resulting in an average space reduction of around 30%. Those have largely been taken over by grocery retailers, which has bolstered footfall, according to the retailer.
The company plans to rightsize up to 20 more B&Q stores over the medium to longer term, and accelerate rightsizings at Castorama France.
The value of Kingfisher’s overall property portfolio slipped slightly to £2.7bn, compared with £2.8bn in the previous year. In the UK, its portfolio is worth £500m, static on the previous year, while yields widened slightly to 7.5%, up from 7.2%.
Elsewhere, Kingfisher said it had “significantly” reduced emissions from its property portfolio by adopting energy efficiency measures, including investing in on-site renewable energy and replacing gas and fossil fuel-based heating systems in its stores. This included installing air-source heat pumps at Screwfix stores.
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