Material weakness in France. Performance elsewhere as expected Kingfisher has reported total Group 3Q sales down 2.7% with LFL sales down 3.9% versus 1H +1.1%. UK performance was robust with sales still weak in Poland, as expected. Today’s focus will be on France where there has been a material drop off in sales, which started to deteriorate in Q2. This appears to be in-line with market weakness (September’s Banque de France sales for home improvement were down 9.1%). Q3 UK & Ireland sales were up 1.1% (1H 1.7%; 2Q +4.1%) with France sales down 8.6% (1H down -3.8%; 2Q -3.5%) and Poland sales down 9% (1H -10.9%; 2Q -11.5%). In France, Brico Depot LFLs were down 10.6% and Castorama down 6.7%. Brico Depot is more exposed to Trade. FY24 PBT guidance lowered to c.£560m (previous c.£590m) vs INVe £582m Q4 (November) has started largely in line with Q3 trends, with Group LFL sales -3.4%. Continued resilience seen in the UK with market weakness in France. Brico Dépôt has closed the underperformance gap vs Castorama. Lowered sales expectations for France means management now expect to deliver c.£470m of FCF (previous guidance >£500m). Management has reaffirmed its commitment to its recently commenced £300m share buyback programme (£26m completed to date). Forecast and TP placed under review The shares have rebounded 14.6% over the last months and were trading on a CY24E PE of 9.1x and a DPS yield of 5.3% on our pre-existing forecasts. We believe we are approaching the end of the downgrade cycle, but we recognise the shares are unlikely to outperform materially until investors are prepared to look through the current weak consumer environment.