BUSINESS LIVE: Kingfisher outlook warning; Henry Boot eyes market improvement; Mobico

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown:

‘B&Q owner ‘Kingfisher is still very much in repair mode, with its performance damaged by cost-of-living headwinds and a struggling housing market. It’s issued the third warning in six months about the outlook for profits, as they fell 25% for the full year.

‘There had been hopes that with interest rates eyed on the horizon, and UK house prices stabilising, that demand for DIY products and services would bounce back, but the company says due to the lag between house sales and renovation projects being green lit, recovery is further on the horizon.

‘The bright spot appears to be online sales, with the revamped marketplace platform, also offering third party products, helping boost e-commerce sales in the UK and Iberia beyond expectations.

‘However, in France, subdued consumer confidence and a weak housing market continues to be a drag and it’s now trimming back floor space for the Castorama chain while restructuring and modernising the store network to compete with rivals like Leroy Merlin.’

One of the nation’s biggest investment platforms has called for a cross-party commitment to scrap stamp duty on share trading to boost the City and wider economy.

Richard Wilson, the chief executive of Interactive Investor, urged the main parties to pledge to ditch the ‘absurd’ levy in their manifestos for the next General Election.

Property developer Henry Boot expects market conditions to improve this year as the Bank of England begins its rate cutting cycle.

The group delivered full-year results in line with expectations for 2023, with pre-tax profits down 18 per cent below the prior year, and maintained forecasts for the year ahead.

‘Our focus on high quality land, commercial property development and housebuilding in prime locations meant that demand for our premium products remained resilient and allowed Henry Boot to perform relatively well against a backdrop of a slowing economy, rising interest rates, high inflation and decreasing volumes in our key markets.

‘While constraining our ability to bring forward developments in one respect, the government’s consistent failure to make much needed reforms to an increasingly dysfunctional planning system does play to the strengths of our land promotion business while helping underpin demand from national housebuilders, who are still actively acquiring prime strategic sites to shore up their future pipelines.

‘This alongside some well timed development disposals and Stonebridge Homes increasing house sales by 43%, helped deliver a resilient performance.

‘We are not immune from the challenges that the UK economy presents to the near-term trading environment and as previously reported, we expect a lag in performance in the year ahead.

‘However, the outlook for both inflation and interest rates is improving and it’s beginning to feel as though the UK economy has turned a corner, with recent reductions in mortgage rates also pointing towards a hopefully brighter future.’

National Express owner Mobico has lowered the lower-end of its annual profit outlook range by about 9 per cent, as the British transport company flagged some accounting issues related to its German rail business.

The company, which last month delayed its annual results citing the accounting review, forecast adjusted operating profit for the year will be in the range of £160million to £175million, compared with its previous expectations of £175million to £185million.

A Chinese battery giant could pump billions into building Britain’s biggest gigafactory.

EVE Energy is in advanced talks to build a hub to make batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) at Coventry airport.

It will commit to investing at least £1.2billion into a 20 gigawatt-hour factory, according to The Sunday Times.

B&Q owner Kingfisher has issued an outlook warning for the third time in six months, as the home improvement retailer said it would fall short of analysts expectations after earning dropped 25 per cent last year.

The group, which also owns Screwfix in Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets, said it was cautious on the overall market outlook because of the time lag between improving housing demand and home improvement demand.

It forecast an adjusted pretax profit for 2024-25 of £490million to £550million, below market expectations of £560million.