B&Q owner Kingfisher plc’s first-quarter trading update is expected to “outline on-track performance supported by broadly resilient demand trends in the UK and Poland and ongoing weakness in France”, according to Citi analysts.
Citi expects to hear more about the restructuring efforts in France, which fellow analysts at Barclays recently said is “welcome, but may take some time”.
French EBIT margins were just 3.3% in the 2023 financial year, compared to 8.7% in the UK and Ireland.
Kingfisher is guiding French EBIT margins to somewhere between 5% and7% in the following years, making this a hotly watched metric on the earnings sheet.
For the full year, Kingfisher has set what Citi dubbed “sensibly cautious” profit before tax (PBT) guidance in the range of around £490 million to £550 million.
Both consensus and Citi's estimates stand at around £507 million.
First-quarter results are due on Tuesday, 21 May.