Thursday March 27, 07:36 AM
Kingfisher halves dividend
LONDON (ShareCast) - DIY retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF.L - news) saw full year adjusted profit before tax fall 2.8% and said that the
"internal background and the external economic environment" had prompted it to halve the final dividend.The B&Q owner posted a pre-tax profit before exceptional items of £386m for the year ended 2 February 2008, down from £397m a year earlier, on revenue up almost 8% to £9.36bn. The final dividend falls by a bigger than expected 50% to 3.4p per share, taking the full year payout down 32% to 7.25p. Chairman Peter Jackson said the firm expects to apply a similar cut to the forthcoming interim dividend. The company blamed the cut on its need to take advantage of "significant capital investment opportunities over the coming years that will drive shareholder value." But it added that with the global economic cycle now tightening new capital investment will continue, but at a slower rate. Kingfisher also announced it is to restructure B&Q China resulting in an exceptional charge of £22m in 2007/08, with a further exceptional charge of around £11m expected in 2008/09.
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