Profits at home-improvements group Kingfisher rose strongly in the first half of the year as robust growth outside the UK made up for modest underlying sales gains at British market leader B&Q.
Kingfisher, which owns Castorama and Brico Depot in France and is expanding in Poland, Italy and China, said pretax profit before exceptional items and goodwill amortisation rose 18.4 per cent to £345.9 million sterling.
The figure beat analysts' consensus forecasts of £338 million, while retail sales at the group rose 9.6 per cent to £3.9 billion, in line with market estimates.
At B&Q, which accounts for more than half of group turnover, like-for like sales were up 2.5 per cent, while total sales including new space rose 5.9 per cent. Retail profit jumped 12.9 per cent to £207.8 million.
Good growth in kitchens, bathrooms, electricals and joinery offset weaker seasonal ranges such as garden furniture and exterior decoration as the British summer was rained off.