B&Q owner Kingfisher reiterated annual guidance as it reported a fall in first-quarter sales and announced a £300m share buyback.
The company on Monday said total group sales fell 5.8% to £3.2bn in the three months to April 22 against tough comparators last year when a DIY boom amid Covid lockdowns boosted revenues.
Kingfisher, which owns B&Q and Screwfix in the UK and Castorama and Brico Depot in France along with other European operations added that like-for-like sales fell 5.4% in the quarter but rose 16.2% on a three-year pre-pandemic basis.
The company said it had made a good start to the second quarter with like-for-like sales down 2.5% in the two weeks to May 14, but up 21.8% on a three-year basis.
