Kingfisher: Bonuses slashed for top executives at B&Q and Screwfix owner after profit plummets

B&Q is owned by Kingfisher. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

The bonuses of the chief executive and chief financial officer of the owner of B&Q have been slashed after Kingfisher’s profits fell by almost 40 per cent during its latest financial year.

CEO Thierry Garnier and CFO Bernard Bot were awarded 20.84 per cent of their total bonus opportunities which was the equivalent of 41.7 per cent and 39.6 per cent of their salaries respectively.

In its annual report, Kingfisher said “this level of outturn was appropriate given the performance over the year, the value delivered to shareholders and the treatment of the wider workforce”.

According to the report, Garnier took home just over £5m in salary and bonus for the financial year while Bot was paid just over £3m.

The annual report comes after Kingfisher reported a sales slowdown as the DIY giant felt the hit from Brits scaling back on home improvements.

For the year ending 31 January 2023  Kingfisher, which owns brands such as Screwfix as well as B&Q, posted pre-tax profits of £611m, down 39.3 per cent from £1.7bn in the same period last year.

As shoppers felt the hit from soaring inflation, sales were also down nine per cent to 13.05bn compared to £13.18bn in 2021. Its retail profit also dipped 19.7 per cent to £923m for the year.

The listed retailer had previously indicated its sales and profits have weakened over the past year, largely due to the DIY demand from locked-down customers starting to soften.

The annual report was published on the same day that it was announced that the City grandee chairman of Kingfisher would not be standing for re-election.

Kingfisher said Andrew Cosslett, has decided not to stand for re-election and will therefore step down from the board of directors at the conclusion of the company’s AGM on 20 June, 2024”.

He will be replaced by Claudia Arney, who has served as an independent non-executive director of Kingfisher since November 2018 and currently also chairs the board’s remuneration committee.