Kingfisher PLC on Monday reported a sharp rise in pretax profit for fiscal 2021 on higher revenue and lower costs.
The home-improvement retailer posted a pretax profit of 756.0 million pounds ($1.05 billion) for the year ended Jan. 31, compared with GBP103.0 million for fiscal 2020, reflecting higher operating profit and significantly lower exceptional adjusting items.
On an adjusted basis, pretax profit for the period rose to GBP786.0 million from GBP544.0 million the prior year and beat a consensus of GBP740.1 million.
In January, the company said full-year adjusted pretax profit would include around GBP85 million in cost savings and that coronavirus-related expenses for fiscal 2021 would be approximately GBP45 million. At the time, Kingfisher said it expected to also book restructuring costs of between GBP15 million and GBP20 million in the second half alone.
All in all, the company booked GBP30.0 million of exceptional adjusting costs in fiscal 2021, compared with GBP441.0 million in fiscal 2020. Selling and distribution expenses also came in much lower year-on-year.
Revenue rose to GBP12.34 billion from GBP11.51 billion a year earlier, also ahead of market forecasts of GBP12.29 billion.
The board declared a final dividend of 5.50 pence a share, for a full-year payout of 8.25 pence apiece. This compares with 3.33 pence in fiscal 2020.
The FTSE 100 retailer said fiscal 2022 has started well, with like-for-like sales in the first quarter up 24% on the year. It said it expects a low double-digit sales growth for the first half but warned over tough sales comparatives on a like-for-like basis for the period.