B&Q boss tells Bank of England not to kill off demand for housing
The boss of Britain’s biggest DIY chain urged the Bank of England not to “throttle” the resurgent housing market as Brits sprucing up their homes helped profits.
Sir Ian Cheshire, group chief executive of B&Q owner Kingfisher, said any attempts by the Bank or Government to cool the housing market should not “throttle off demand”.
He added: “There is an increased demand for housing. We should look at building more homes and getting more houses occupied.”
People are feeling more confident about their homes with values inching up. They are back spending cash on home projects
He said the central London price bubble had not given B&Q a big lift as most of its stores were outside the M25 but it had seen more demand from first-time buyers up and down the UK.
“People are feeling more confident about their homes with values inching up. They are back spending cash on home projects,” he said.
Kingfisher said profits in the 13 weeks to May 3 rose 20.3 per cent to £142million on sales up 6.1 per cent to £2.78billion. B&Q sales grew 10.5 per cent to just over £1billion.
However its shares dived 20¼p to 397p, topping the list of FTSE 100 fallers, as profits missed expectations and some analysts declared sales should have done better given the late Easter and warm weather.
Cheshire said promotions on kitchens and bathrooms and increased home delivery costs had hit profit margins but added: “We don’t worry too much about share price reactions. We have made a strong start to the year.”
B&Q was helped by demand for fence panels during February’s storms. It hopes for a surge in barbecue sales and limited edition England football gnomes during the World Cup.
In France sales grew 1.6 per cent with talks to buy rival Mr Bricolage ongoing. B&Q China sales dropped 5 per cent hit by a slowing property market. However sales in Poland and Russia did well.
Kingfisher also announced a £100million special dividend.
