It’s been a disappointing 2017 so far for Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF) investors, with shares losing more than 12% since the turn of the year.
Its French retail business has struggled to cope with a downturn in the home improvement market across the Channel and investors will be hoping the outlook there is a little more optimistic than it has been in recent months.
Those issues in France have overshadowed decent performances from its B&Q and Screwfix stores here in the UK, the latter in particular.
The markets will be looking on Thursday to see if that’s still the case and it will give a pretty good idea of how the economy is faring; if tradesmen are buying more materials, it generally follows that people are spending more on home improvements.
More generally, any update on plans to unify the French and UK back office systems and cut costs will also be of interest.
Ex-dividend factors will knock 9.64 points off the FTSE 100 index on Thursday, with Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT), British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS), Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB), Legal & General Group PLC (LON:LGEN), Merlin Entertainments PLC (LON:MERL), Pearson PLC (LON:PSON), Reckitt Benckiser PLC (LON:RB.), Schroders PLC (LON:SDR), and Segro PLC (LON:SGRO) all trading without entitlement to their latest payout.
Thursday’s agenda
Trading update: Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF)
Interims: Allied Minds PLC (LON:ALM), Capital Drilling Ltd (LON:CAPD), Gem Diamonds Ltd (LON:GEMD), Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), Kaz Minerals PLC (LON:KAZ), Oxford Biomedica PLC (LON:OXB)
Finals: Rank Group PLC (LON:RNK)
Economic data: UK retail sales