In its Q4 trading statement, released this morning, B&Q parent company Kingfisher announced a like-for-like sales decline of 5.5% for the quarter across the business - a less dramatic fall than some analysts had been predicting.
The UK performed slightly worse than the company average, seeing sales drop 6.8%, although, according to the report. B&Q figures were in line with the company average with a drop of 5.9% on a lfl basis and higher ticket items such as kitchens and bathrooms saw an improvement compared with Q3. Gross margins were hit, dropping by £17m due to increased promotional activity, but this, says the company, was "fully offset by cost savings".

Screwfix was the star of the show, racking up sales growth of 4.2% to £115m, albeit due to the continued rollout of its trade counters.

The rest of the world was less consistent with Poland and Russia posting sales growth of 5.5% and 16.7% respectively. However, as was widely predicted, sales in China plummeted 31.2% because of the property slowdown and Kingfisher will announce a "comprehensive repositioning plan" for the business in its full year preliminary results, released on March 26.

Commenting on the results, Kingfisher ceo Ian Cheshire said, "We continued to take share in our major markets during Q4 and have managed our cashflow in what was a particularly difficult time for consumers. Adopting a vigorous and prudent approach to costs and cash at the start of the year enabled us to meet key financial targets, including our target for net debt, and make real progress with our Delivering Value programme in 2008.
"With a strong and experienced management team in place, we now enter what is anticipated to be a very challenging year in good shape with a robust balance sheet, leading market positions and an international portfolio of retail brands with strong value positions."