B & Q owner Kingfisher revealed that profits surged to over £ 1bn last year as the DIY boom seen throughout the Covid-19 pandemic continued.
Boss said additional cash will be distributed to shareholders through dividends and share purchases to raise stock prices, with £ 550m returned to investors.
However, in the three months to the end of January, the company saw a significant decline in sales, including a rare decline in sales at the popular screwfix store.
The company, which also owns DIY stores in France, Poland, Iberian and Romania, added that it has removed Russian and Belarusian products from its shelves since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
Kingfisher said he was “shocked and deeply concerned” about the invasion of Ukraine and was also in talks with suppliers to make sure the product was not sourced from either country.
The company sold its Castorama Russia business in September 2020.
Rising inflation is controlled by placing bulk orders and leveraging the size of Kingfisher to improve shipping container conditions.
However, his boss warned that inflation could rise further as energy and transportation costs remain high, and that cost pressures are expected to continue this year.
According to the company, product shortages were also less affected this year, especially in homebuilding and outdoor range of raw materials.
Overall, this year was a strong year for the Group, with sales up 6.8% to £ 13.2 billion and pre-tax profit up 33% to £ 1 billion in the 12 months to the end of January.
But most of the growth happened in the first half of last year. This is because retailers have benefited from their essential retailer status and other stores have been closed during the blockade.
In the UK and Ireland, B & Q sales were down 5.6% in the three months from August to October and down 2.9% in the three months from November to January.
Screwfixes increased by only 0.2% and decreased by 4.2% over the same two periods compared to the previous year, but in the two years prior to Covid, both brands continued to rise.
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