Kingfisher increases its 2014 full year dividend by 1%

2014/15 Financial overview:

2014/15 highlights

Total sales in constant currencies up 2.9% (France -1.0%, UK & Ireland +5.5%, Other International +5.0%)

Adjusted pre-tax profit of £675m impacted by a slower market in France since summer 2014, £34m adverse foreign exchange movements on the translation of non-sterling profits and £22m charges for new country development activity

Year end net cash of £329m is after £275m capital investment and £434m of cash returned to shareholders

Appointed new Chief Executive Officer in December 2014, new initiatives underway on the journey for 'ONE' Kingfisher  

Véronique Laury, Chief Executive Officer, said:

"Home improvement is a great market with huge potential and Kingfisher has a strong position within it with further scope to grow in a sustainable way. However, it is clear to me that we need to organise ourselves very differently to unlock our potential. This will involve taking what is essentially a locally managed set of businesses and creating instead a single, unified company where customer needs come first. The first step in developing this new organisation is the creation of a new, international leadership team with more focused cross-company roles. 

"We have a lot to do and we are announcing today a set of first 'sharp' decisions which are already underway including the closure of around 15% surplus B&Q space (c.60 stores) and our few loss making stores in Europe, the development of unified garden and bathroom businesses and the start of a Big Box revitalisation programme across Europe.

"In addition, we will be developing our detailed plans for the wider reorganisation of the company as we progress on this exciting journey towards becoming 'ONE' Kingfisher."