Geoffrey Smith

Investing.com — Kingfisher LON stock rose in London at midday Monday morning after the home-improvement group reported a strong quarter of its fiscal year. This helped to alleviate concerns about the impact that the pandemic is over and the soaring price tag are affecting the sector. 

The owner of B&Q, Screwfix and France’s Castorama announced another 300 million pounds ($378 million) in stock buybacks and reiterated its guidance for the year through January 2023, after saying that sales through April were up 16% from pre-pandemic levels.

The company stated that “Demand is resilient” and that trading across all segments and banners…is consistent with our expectations.

Kingfisher stock had risen 2.2% by 05:25 ET (0925 GMT) at 05.25AM ET. This makes it one of the top performers in the world. Although it is still 25% below this year’s level, Kingfisher stock was up 2.2% due to the downdraft in global markets and the impact of the tax increases and higher energy prices on its primary market, the U.K.

It was evident that the unprecedented surge in business created by the pandemic was slowing down. Comparable sales fell 5.4% from the previous year and by approximately 16% in Ireland and the U.K, where half of the business is generated. Despite significant market share gains in France, sales at Castorama and Brico Depot fell 3.7%. This decline was offset by the company’s European operations which rose 37% thanks to an increase of more than 50% in Poland. 

Kingfisher stated that the company’s “good momentum” has continued in this quarter. In the first half of May, comparable sales were down only 2.5% from last year’s exceptional levels, and 1 percentage point of that decline was due to the timing of Easter.

Investors were also reassured by the group on key issues that had caused concern in this earnings season. They heard that they “continue to manage inflation well” as well that there was “good product availability”. 

Kingfisher’s latest news was positive and in line with earnings from many U.S. retail stores last week. However, there are also home improvement stores like Home Depot. Home Depot (NYSE:) and Lowe’s (NYSE:) fared better than other specialist and department store names.