Broker snap: Kingfisher making good progress, says Panmure

16th Feb 2012 10:27

Panmure Gordon has maintained its buy rating and 350p target price for DIY retailer Kingfisher saying that the current valuation looks too low following the group's full-year results.The B&Q owner reported that total sales in the 13 weeks to January 28th were up 2.2% year-on-year, 4% in constant currency terms. Like-for-like sales were up 0.9%, despite the UK & Ireland's figures being down 1.9% on the corresponding period of the prior year. In France total sales gained 5.7% to hit £938m with the LFL figure rising 4.2%. The broker says that Kingfisher is making "good underlying progress" but has had to reduce next year forecasts slightly to take into account adverse currency movements. "We continue to believe that Kingfisher has a significant growth opportunity. We believe that it could (over the long term) double its business in Poland and Spain, treble in Turkey and quadruple in Russia. Also, China is close to profitability," said analyst Philip Dorgan.Panmure says that much now rides on the March strategy update.BC