Huge building and DIY brand set to open over 100 new stores
KINGFISHER’s boss has revealed plans to open at least 50 smaller B&Q stores and 60 more Screwfix sites in the UK — despite facing lower profits this year.
The DIY chain’s smaller B&Q Local stores could help fill empty spaces on high streets and smaller retail parks left empty by retail closures in recent years.
Thierry Garnier said despite the wider doom and gloom he was ploughing on with his strategy.
He told The Sun: “We are in a good shape to be honest. We have no debt, we have executed our plan and there it is a lot of opportunities for growth still. It is our responsibility to pursue growth quickly”.
It comes despite Kingfisher cautioning profits will slip again this year after a 36 per cent drop in pre-tax profits from £1billion to £611million in the year to 31 January.
Analysts also believe the DIY sector will shrink this year as people rein in their spending on big home renovation projects.
Kingfisher was a major Covid winner as sales of its homewares and DIY products boomed.
The shift to remote working and surge in demand for home office spaces has kept the homewares trending lasting longer than expected.
Like-for-like sales slipped 2.1 per cent compared to 2021, but Mr Garnier said sales were still 15.6 per cent higher than pre-pandemic.
Since the energy crisis B&Q has seen a 79 per cent jump in sales of insulation rolls as Brits look to cut heating bills.
Around £1 in £10 spent last year was going on energy and water saving products.
In signs home spending may continue, Screwfix’s poll of its builder, plumbers, and kitchen fitter customers found 91 per cent were working and three quarters still had orders lined up.
£250m race bets made
RACING fans bet more than £250million with Flutter-owned bookies Paddy Power, SkyBet and Betfair during the Cheltenham Festival.
It handled 37 million individual wagers during the four days of horse racing action.
Ex-footie star Peter Crouch featured in Paddy Power’s advert to promote its festival involvement.
Flutter said victories for Envoi Allen, Sire Du Berlais and Stage Star had cost its trio of betting brands an “eight-figure sum” in customer wins.
However, A Plus Tard’s failure to win back-to-back Gold Cups, was one of the major losing picks for punters.
Flutter’s Dom Crosthwaite said: “It was pleasing this year to see the Festival’s mass market appeal mirror the recreational nature of our customer base.”
Ashley’s £200m shares gamble
RETAIL tycoon Mike Ashley is gambling £200million on his son-in-law’s business brain.
He has bet 26.5million Frasers Group shares that their price will rise above 800p by September from a current 761p.
Ashley owns around 70 per cent of the group, run by daughter Anna’s husband Michael Murray.
He founded the company in 1982 and it includes Sports Direct, Flannels, House of Fraser and Jack Willls.
Ashley’s bet the Frasers chain will be boosted by a push upmarket covers 5.6 per cent of his stake.
He lost millions when Debenhams collapsed.
40K jobs fear for bankers
AS many as 40,000 jobs could be lost as a result of the £2.6billion takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS.
The shotgun deal, which values the 167-year-old Swiss bank the same worth as bakery chain Greggs, was set up to stop Credit Suisse’s collapse and end fear rippling through financial markets.
The two banks have 120,000 employees around the globe and a third of their combined workforce could be slashed, the Financial Times report.
UBS has told analysts it plans to cut around £5bn in staffing costs.
Credit Suisse is expected to bear the brunt as UBS is set to wind down its investment bank, which advises firms on takeovers and refinancings.
Credit Suisse employs 5,000 bankers in London, where it has offices in Canary Wharf.
Recruiters have said they have been inundated by CVs from Credit Suisse bankers scared about losing their jobs.
Tech tiff job quit
THE chairwoman of one of Britain’s biggest tech investors has stepped down days after a bruising board member row.
Fiona McBain has led the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust since 2017 but is leaving after fellow director Amar Bhidé went public with concerns about her independence.
Mr Bhidé had raised doubts over Ms McBain’s “long series of procedural violations”.
The trust, which dates back to 1909, had recently been hit by the sell-off of tech stocks.
Cuts at Just Eat
JUST EAT’S parent company is laying off around 1,700 delivery staff as it cuts costs in the wake of a takeaway slowdown.
The company, which recently used singer Katy Perry for its big-budget adverts, said that it would stop employing couriers and instead switch to freelancers, or gig-economy workers.
The switch comes despite boss Jitse Groen attacking his rivals, including Uber Eats and Deliveroo, for using a gig-economy model saying that it had “led to precarious working conditions”.
CURRYS has raised staff wages for the fourth time in 18 months, pushing minimum hourly pay to £10.50 from £10.35.
Workers in London will see their pay rise to £11.50.
The electrical retailer is one of many companies competing to fill roles.
Markets relax
CALM returned to London markets yesterday as banks appeared to rally after a rollercoaster few days.
Shares in Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest all gained around 5 per cent, while traders breathed a sigh of relief that there had been 24 hours without another bank run or rescue.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “Confidence has slowly returned after the volatility of the last few days.”
The FTSE 100 also ended the day in positive territory, up 132.37 to 7,536.22 points.