Boss of Kingfisher, Sir Ian Cheshire, which owns B&Q and Screwfix, has warned that investment in Scotland could be paused if the country gains independence.
Scotland will take to the polls in September to vote on the country's independence from the UK.

Sir Ian told the Press Association what he believes the future holds for Kingfisher should Scotland gain independence, at the opening of a new B&Q warehouse in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde.

He said: "If we have differences on VAT, currency, it just puts everything into hibernation as we try to figure out what it will mean.

"Scotland is such an important part of B&Q, there's no way we're going to let it go, but it would be more complicated, probably more costly and less likely to attract investment, given we could invest in 11 other countries around the world."

Should Scotland become independent Sir Ian said the company's UK-wide IT system would have to change and thousands of products would have to be repriced.

He added he would have to wait and see if conditions were good enough to open more stores, including plans to bring the total number of Screwfix stores in the country to 50.

B&Q employs more than 2,600 people in Scotland, while Screwfix has 27 shops and employs just under 400 people.

Kingfisher released its Q1 trading update yesterday which revealed B&Q enjoyed a 10.5% increase in total sales and Screwfix saw total sales grow by 24.2%.