Kingfisher PLC

Volkswagen cut its 2026 operating-margin outlook to no more than 1% after warning that a €6 billion ($6.9B) write-down on its 75% stake in Porsche reflected weaker financial expectations for the luxury sports-car maker. The warning came as US stock indexes ended the week higher, with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and the Nasdaq up 2.1%, while the Dow fell 103 points. In Europe, the STOXX ended the week 1.1% lower, with Germany's DAX down 1.2% and France's CAC down 1.4%, though London's FTSE 100 rose 0.3%. B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher raised its FY profit guidance following stronger first-half results. In Asia, China's People's Bank of China kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged at record lows for the 16th straight month, with the one-year loan prime rate at 3.0% and the five-year rate at 3.5%, while US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to reduce tariffs on $30B worth of non-sensitive goods traded in each direction. Chinese markets lost 1.8% for the week, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose about 1%, and SK Hynix's US subsidiary Solidigm is considering an initial public offering that would value the unit at $150B, while Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's annualized revenue run rate has topped $1B.

Kingfisher has lifted its full-year 2026/2027 guidance after statutory post-tax profit rose 22.6% to £290m for the six months to 31 July 2026. The London-listed home improvement retailer, which owns B&Q, Screwfix, Castorama and Brico Dépôt, reported statutory sales up 0.8% to £6.86bn, statutory pre-tax profit of £400m, up 18.4%, and adjusted pre-tax profit up 9.9% to £404m, while operating profit rose 17.6% to £449m and gross margin expanded 70 basis points to 38.4%. The results included a one-off £14m UK business rates refund, and excluding that item adjusted pre-tax profit growth was 6.1%. By region, UK and Ireland retail profit rose 5% to £361m, France retail profit increased 2.9% to £74m and Poland posted retail profit growth of 17.4% to £60m, while the company opened nine new stores in the period, taking its total estate to 1,700 stores, and plans 30 new stores over the full year. For FY26/27, Kingfisher now expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £595m-£635m, up from earlier guidance of £565m-£625m, and raised free cash flow guidance to £480m-£520m from £450m-£510m. CEO Thierry Garnier said the consumer environment remains mixed but that consistent delivery and strategic progress gave the company confidence to upgrade its guidance.