Kingfisher, the retail giant that owns Woolworths, B&Q and Comet, has announced a 12.2% rise in sales over Christmas, providing more evidence that millions of shoppers splashed out on presents at the last minute.
The group’s fortunes mirrored trends highlighted by the influential British Retail Consortium survey, which revealed yesterday that sales in the sector increased 4.8% in December, compared with figures in 1996.
With sales of £583.7m for the nine weeks to January 3, 1998, Woolworths’ sales grew 8.3% compared to the same period last year.
B&Q improved 23.9% to £288.9m, while sales at Superdrug and electrical store Comet increased 10.3% and 18.7% respectively. Annual turnover for the two stood at £172.4 m and £222.8m respectively.
When the BRC reported in December that November’s sales were down on expectations, Kingfisher warned that Comet was not performing to expectations.
Comet, based in Rickmansworth, Herts, has 224 stores, Croydon-based Superdrug has 704 shops while Woolworths, based in London, has 781. B&Q, based in Eastleigh near Southampton, has 280 stores but is set to open six new warehouse outlets with 1,500 new jobs in 1998.
Half-year figures for Kingfisher in September showed profits jumped from £110.7m a year before to £150.1m, with comparable sales up 7.9% over the whole group.
Kingfisher said its improvement in the UK was matched by increased sales in France through its Paris-based Darty electrical goods shops. Actual sales revenue was up 10.6%, although the strong pound cut this back to 3.6%.
In October the company mothballed £225m bid talks with French electrical retailer BUT after worries about the country’s economy. Kingfisher did not comment on whether Darty’s star performance had changed its view of BUT.
PA News 14/01/98
