Kingfisher PLC – Screwfix Builds a Wall of Silence around Store Expansion Plans

Kingfisher PLC I

Kingfisher PLC, the owner of B&Q and Screwfix, operates in multiple European countries, including the UK, France and Poland. Their stock is the third most shorted in the FTSE 100 with 6.8% of its equity share capital sold short by short sellers.

We analysed a segment of Kingfisher’s Earnings Call Q&A session, following the release of full year results on 25th March 2025, to see what insights, if any, we could glean.

Below is a question asked by Warwick Okines, a Research Analyst at BNP Paribas Exane;

‘Just one question on Screwfix France. Can you talk about the cash generation or the cash consumption of Screwfix France? Why are you only opening five stores in the year ahead?

Thierry Garnier, CEO, Kingfisher PLC replied:

‘Thank you, Warwick. I think, first of all, we are very pleased with what we are seeing today. As you saw in the presentation, there are many, what I would call industrial KPIs, starting from price index, customer NPS, but probably, the most important one is the repeat purchase. We are very pleased with the repeat purchase. So, where we recruit trade, they are coming back. And today, the number one focus of the team is the store sales like-for-like growth. So, to make sure every cohort in year two, year three, year four, the like-for-like is in-line with the maturation curve...'

'...You maybe remember, one year ago, we showed a maturation curve, that's the number one KPI for us. We are seeing improvement of awareness, and all those underlying KPIs are strong. So therefore, in fact, expansion is not the number one topic. We could open more stores. We continued to open stores in 2024. We have five stores in the plan for 2025. That's overall limited CapEx. Screwfix in the UK and France, it's not really a CapEx issue. It's really to make sure the maturation of the store like-for-like sales is exactly in line with our expectation’. 

This was the opening question and is the equivalent of being bowled first ball.

A simple question is posed regarding the cash position of Screwfix France which the CEO ignores and deflects to other performance indicators.

This indicates the likelihood that Screwfix France is a long way from being cash positive. This is not unusual in the expansion of a new retail concept into the marketplace, but the avoidance of the question and lack of any guidance as to the cash position avoids commitment and creates doubt. 

The CEO notes, ‘where we recruit trade, they are coming back.’ This is passive and does not speak to how many customers are coming back and the monetary value of their repeat business. The number one focus of the team is, ‘store sales like for like growth’ which is not to say that they are achieving this currently or how they will go about achieving this.

The question also asked why Screwfix were only opening 5 stores in the year ahead.

The answer to which is, ‘We continued to open stores in 2024. We have five stores in the plan for 2025.’ This not only seeks to deflect but lacks commitment to actually opening five stores which are ‘planned’ for 2025.

This doesn’t answer the question.

The language used in the response to the question(s) indicates a management team that is cautious over this year’s prospects.

There is a need to avoid commitment to specific targets, which is not unusual but the deflection and avoidance of questions on trading and future prospects does not provide for confidence.

We would not bet against short sellers.

Reference: www.kingfisher.com/~/media/Files/K/Kingfisher-Plc/Universal/investors/result-reports-presentation/2025/20250325Kingfisher-PLC-Full-Year-2024-25-Results-Transcript.pdf

All blog subjects are identified, validated and written by the DDL Team. 

See www.ddlltd.com for more on Deception Detection Lab Ltd. Neither DDL nor its employees have any position in Kingfisher PLC.