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Business review

Chairman's statement

Operational Review – full year by geography – year ended 30 January 2010

  Sales 2009/10
£m		 % Total Change (Reported) % Total Change (Constant currency) % LFL Change Retail Profit 2009/10
£m		 % Total Change (Reported) % Total Change (Constant currency)

Note: Continuing operations only. Joint Venture (JV) and Associate sales are not consolidated. Retail profit is stated before central costs, interest, exceptional items, amortisation of acquisition intangibles and the Group’s share of interest and tax of JVs and associates.

  1. Castorama and Brico Dépôt.
  2. B&Q in the UK & Ireland and Screwfix. Prior year figures include the now ceased Trade Depot trial and have been restated to include Ireland.
  3. Poland, China, Spain, Russia, Turkey JV and Hornbach in Germany.

    2009/10: £1 = €1.13 (2008/09: £1 = €1.24)
    2009/10: £1 = 4.86 Polish zloty (2008/09: £1 = 4.39 Polish zloty)
    2009/10: £1 = 10.79 Chinese renminbi (2008/09: £1 = 12.51 Chinese renminbi)
  
France1 4,242 9.1% (0.6)% (3.4)% 322 +13.9% +3.7%
UK & Ireland2 4,442 1.4% 1.2% (0.1)% 217 +64.8% +64.5%
Other International3 1,819 3.5% 5.1% (0.2)% 125 +41.7% +77.8%
Total Group 10,503 4.8% 1.1% (1.5)% 664 +32.1% +29.4%

Group Financial Summary

  2009/10 2008/09 % Total Change (Reported) % Total Change (Constant currency)

Note: Continuing operations only. Joint Venture (JV) and Associate sales are not consolidated. Retail profit is stated before central costs, interest, exceptional items, amortisation of acquisition intangibles and the Group’s share of interest and tax of JVs and associates. Adjusted measures are before exceptional items, financing fair value remeasurements, amortisation of acquisition intangibles, related tax items and tax on prior year items. A reconciliation to statutory amounts is set out in the Financial Review.

Statutory reporting is continuing operations only and after net post-tax exceptional gain/(charge) (2009/10: £10m; 2008/09: £(88)m.
Sales £10,503m £10,026m +4.8% +1.1%
Retail profit £664m £503m +32.1% +29.4%
Adjusted pre-tax profit £547m £368m +48.6%  
Adjusted basic EPS 16.4p 11.0p +49.1%  
Profit before taxation £566m £90m 528.9%  
Profit for the year £385m £206m +86.9%  
Basic EPS – total operations 16.5p 8.9p +85.4%  
Interim dividend 1.925p 1.925p Flat  
Final dividend 3.575p 3.4p +5.1%  
Full year dividend 5.5p 5.325p +3.3%  
Like-for-like sales growth (1.5)%      
Financial net debt £250m £1,004m (75.1)% (75.2)%

Highlights (in constant currency)

  • Self-help initiatives drove robust growth in profit and cash generation. Good progress with the seven step ‘Delivering Value’ plan, return on capital up 250 bps
  • Retail profit up 29.4% with growth achieved in each of the three main operating divisions:
    • French profits up 3.7% to £322 million, supported by margin and cost initiatives
    • UK & Ireland profits up 64.5% to £217 million. B&Q retail profit margin improved from 2.8% to 4.9% benefiting from sales growth and margin and cost initiatives. TradePoint trial a success, national roll-out underway
    • Other International profits up 77.8% to £125 million. Strong growth in Poland and Turkey continued and trading in Russia, Spain and Germany was resilient. China repositioning plan on track with losses almost halved in the year
  • Financial net debt reduced by 75% (at reported rates). Free cash flow of £761 million of which around £550 million was used to repay outstanding bonds and loans early
  • Final dividend up 5%, the first dividend growth for five years
  • Property portfolio independently valued at £3.0 billion (2008/09: £3.2 billion)

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