Kingfisher quarterly sales fall 25% during lockdown

LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - Home improvement group Kingfisher said sales in the three months to the end of April fell by a quarter due to coronavirus-related disruption, but store re-openings meant it was seeing an improving trend at the beginning of May.

Kingfisher, which owns B&Q in Britain and Castorama in France, said on Tuesday that it was focused on expanding its liquidity position and had access to 2 billion pounds ($2.46 billion) by May 8.

For the three months ended April, the group said total underlying sales were down 24.8%, after many of its stores across Europe closed during lockdowns associated with the coronavirus pandemic. ($1 = 0.8121 pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young, editing by James Davey)