Investors have long been nervous about Kingfisher. The move away from do-it-yourself sheds to online buying, the exposure to the French economy and the potential threat from a revived Homebase have been the main concerns. Crucial to countering these is the grandly named ONE Kingfisher plan hatched by Véronique Laury, the chief executive, which is designed to cut the B&Q network by 61 stores to about 300 by the end of the year, increase online sales, boost its Screwfix operation and so grow annual profits by £500 million by 2021, at a cost of £800 million to implement.
At the same time Kingfisher will be returning £600 million to investors over the first three years of the plan by means of share buybacks, £150