B&Q owner Kingfisher hailed an "important year" as it revealed a 14.7% hike in annual profits thanks to an overhaul of its DIY chain and surging sales at Screwfix.
The group posted underlying pre-tax profits of £787 million for the year to January 31, up from £686 million a year earlier, after seeing B&Q like-for-like sales lift by 3.5%.
But its trade-focused arm Screwfix was once again the star performer, with same-store sales leaping 13.8% higher.
The group said it had finished its B&Q store closure programme, which has seen it shut 65 shops and slash around 3,000 jobs in the UK and Ireland over the last two years.
Kingfisher chief executive Veronique Laury said: "It has been a very productive and important year, a year which has again delivered sales and profit growth."
She added that the group had "learned a lot" and was "aware of the challenges" as she ploughs on with an ambitious five-year turnaround plan.
Kingfisher is also bracing for change in the UK and France, where the group trades as Castorama and Brico Depot.
Ms Laury said: "The EU referendum has created uncertainty for the UK economic outlook and we remain cautious on the outlook for France, especially in light of the forthcoming presidential elections."
Alongside full-year results, the group also said chairman Daniel Bernard would retire in June after eight years in the role.
He will be replaced by Andy Cosslett - a former chief executive of Fitness First and InterContinental Hotels Group - who becomes chairman-designate on April 1.
Kingfisher also revealed a £52 million boost as the weak pound flattered its overseas profits.
The group said its B&Q like-for-like sales benefited from extra trade from closed stores, which added 2.6% of the 3.5% sales rise.
Total B&Q sales fell 3.3% after its store closure programme.
It opened 60 new Screwfix outlets over the year, expanding its chain to 517 and has upped its long-term target to have 700 stores in the UK, from 600 previously.
The Screwfix sales surge helped UK & Ireland retail profits rise 9.9% to £358 million, which offset a 0.3% fall in profits in its French business.
Kingfisher admitted its French businesses under-performed the wider market, with like-for-like sales falling by 2.7%.
On a bottom-line basis, overall group pre-tax profits rose 48.2% to £759 million.
Shares fell nearly 3% after the results, despite being marginally better than expected, according to retail analyst Mark Photiades at Cantor Fitzgerald.
He said: "Encouragingly, progress is being made with the restructuring plan."
But he highlighted risks that "a downturn in consumer spending in the UK and France will impact sales and profitability".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here