Kingfisher sales fall as cold weather keeps customers away Total UK sales, which include Kingfisher's electrical and plumbing business Screwfix, fell by by 3.4pc to £1.07bn, while operating profits, excluding central costs and exceptional items, plummeted by a third, to £50m. Despite the fall in sales and profits, Kingfisher said margins were broadly flat over the quarter. Mr Cheshire said the company would continue to focus on keeping costs down, so it could pass on savings to cash-strapped customers. Sales at Kingfisher's French business, which represents around 40pc of total sales, fell 3.8pc to £1.08bn over the quarter. "Time is running out for Kingfisher to avoid another profit fall in H1," said Philip Dorgan, an analyst at Panmure Gordon. B&Q's like-for-like sales have been negative for 11 out of the last 13 quarters, something of a trend, we feel, while the profit performance relative to France is stark. However, Mr Dorgan added: "We remain buyers of the shares because we see a significant group scale opportunity, combined with the obvious benefit to profits as/when its markets improve. He said that many investors had compared Kingfisher with US retailer Home Depot, which reported a 32pc surge in fourth-quarter income as it reaped the benefits of a turnaround in the US housing market. Kingfisher shares fell 2.4pc to 320p on Thursday morning.