Kingfisher PLC (LSE:KGF) has warned weak trading in France will result in lower-than-expected profits and free cash flow in the full year.
The owner of B&Q and Castorama now expects full-year adjusted pre-tax profit of £560 million, down from previous guidance of £590 million, with free cash flow forecast of around £470 million, down from more than £500 million previously estimated.
In a third-quarter trading update, Kingfisher said sales fell 2.1% to £3.2 billion with like-for-like sales down 3.9%.
Underlying retail and trade consumer trends were resilient in the UK and improving in Poland, in line with expectations, but market trends in France were weaker than expected, the firm explained.
“We continue to take decisive cost actions in France, more than offsetting the impact of inflation.
“However, given continued market weakness, this is not sufficient to offset the impact of lower sales in this region,” the firm said.
In France, Castorama performed in line with the market but Brico Deport underperformed due to significantly higher weighting of building materials and electricals, plumbing and heating & cooling products.
Kingfisher said the fourth quarter has started largely in line with the trends of the third quarter, including continued resilience in the UK and market weakness in France.
For the three weeks to 18 November, group like-for-like sales were down 3.4%.
In the UK & Ireland, the firm reported market share gains at B&Q (including TradePoint) and Screwfix, with resilient underlying sales trends.