LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Kingfisher scrapped its final dividend in response to the Covid-19 crisis but said trading had shown positive trends in the current financial year.
The owner of B&Q and Screwfix said it cancelled the dividend due to "unprecedented" uncertainty caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Kingfisher joins a series of companies hanging on to cash to shore up finances instead of paying out to shareholders.

The DIY retailer was due to report annual results on 24 March but has delayed the announcement under orders from the Financial Conduct Authority because of the coronavirus crisis. It said like-for-like sales fell 1.5% in the year to the end of January but that they turned positive in the final quarter, rising 1.7%.

Trading continued to improve from 1 February to 14 March. In February like-for-like sales rose 2.3% excluding the effect of the leap year. In the first two weeks of March sales rose across all businesses. In the third week of March the UK remained positive but France was affected by store closures and demand was weak in Poland.

Kingfisher shares rose 5.6% to 133.15p at 10:21 GMT.

The company said its stores in France and Spain had closed for two weeks to comply with government requests but that its UK and Ireland outlets remained open as well as those in Russia and eastern Europe. It is restricting the number of people in stores and carrying out strict "social distancing" rules.

At the end of January Kingfisher had cash and equivalents of £195m and borrowings of £158m. Including lease liabilities its total net debt was £2.53m.

In China nearly all suppliers' factories have reopened and more than 85% of orders have less than a four-week delay. In Europe, Italian factories have closed or are expected to do so and there are doubts about transportation of goods across the continent. Kingfisher said risk to product availability was manageable.

Chief Executive Thierry Garnier has been trying to revive Kingfisher's sales since arriving in September. His measures have included reintroducing trading events and cutting prices at Screwfix.

Garnier said: "These are unprecedented times. We'll get through them and, when we do, we are as a team committed to returning Kingfisher to growth."

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