B&Q profits affected by summer rainfall

B&Q owner Kingfisher says wet weather has been bad for business as its profits were cut...

Home improvement retail giant B&Q sees its owner Kingfisher blame recent profit loss on the summer’s unusual wet weather, as an approximate 20per cent slump has been recorded, with a fall in profit from £320million to £259million.

The results were revealed on Wednesday, and Kingfisher, who own worldwide stores, said it is mainly the UK and northern Europe profits thought to have been affected by the rain with a cut of £30millon.

Kingfisher sales for the UK have declined by just under two per cent, with home and garden stockists having to make discounts on certain products because of the bad weather.

Seasonal stock, such as barbeques, was most affected by price reductions in order to shift the summer goods.

As quoted by the BBC, total sales were down by three per cent, and a reported 20per cent drop in visitor numbers related to those weeks where it rained the most.

Kingfisher's Chief Executive, Ian Cheshire, told the BBC: “This has been a tough first half, with unprecedented wet weather throughout the key spring and summer seasons in Northern Europe.”

He explained that the aim was to shift excess stock by pushing certain sales and this meant it had “exited the first half in as good shape as possible”, as the first six months of 2012 saw lesser profit than prior July 2011.

It is understood the economical drop is not expected to lift any time soon.

Kingfisher have opened 28 shops in the UK before July 2012, and are expecting to declare their 1,000th store open in Poland late September.